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See the Schedule of Guest Preachers This Summer

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Duke Chapel has a long and living tradition of faithful preaching, which includes guest preachers from a variety of church denominations and academic disciplines. All of the preachers listed below will deliver their sermons in Summer 2026 during the Chapel's weekly Sunday service at 11:00 a.m.

May 24 — Rev. Dr. Eric Lewis Williams, D’05

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The Rev. Dr. Eric Lewis Williams is assistant professor of theology and Black Church studies at Duke Divinity School. A native of Rockford, Illinois, Professor Williams has taught theology, history, and Africana Studies at several institutions, including Western Theological Seminary, Ashland Theological Seminary (Detroit), Iowa State University, Shaw University, Virginia Union University, Boston College, and Harvard University. In addition to his teaching experience, for nearly seven years, he served as the Curator of Religion and Lead Researcher in the Center for the Study of African American Religious Life at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. A graduate of Duke Divinity School, he is an ordained minister of the Church of God in Christ (COGIC). His current research examines the meaning of religion within African American history and culture and the role and influences of African-derived religions within the Atlantic world. Professor Williams is a co-editor of the T&T Clark Handbook of African American Theology and author of More Than Tongues Can Tell: Theological Generosity in Black Pentecostal Thought.

May 31 — Rev. Dr. Stephen B. Chapman 

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The Rev. Dr. Stephen B. Chapman is professor of Old Testament and biblical interpretation at Duke Divinity School and editor-in-chief of the Journal of Theological Interpretation. His work focuses on the formation of the biblical canon, the nature of the Old Testament as Scripture, the literary dynamics of biblical narrative, the challenge of biblical violence, and the history and use of the Old Testament within the Christian tradition and Western culture. He is the author of 1 Samuel as Christian Scripture, which was named Reference Book of the Year for 2017 by the Academy of Parish Clergy, and The Law and the Prophets, as well as numerous essays. He co-edited The Cambridge Companion to the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament and Biblischer Text und theologische Theoriebildung. He is the founding editor of the Touchstone Texts commentary series. He also serves on the editorial boards of the monograph series Old Testament Theology and Siphrut: Literature and Theology of the Hebrew Scriptures. He is an ordained American Baptist minister. His current writing project is The Theology of the Book of Joshua for Cambridge University Press.

June 28 — Dr. Anathea Portier-Young, G’04

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Dr. Anathea Portier-Young is professor of Old Testament at Duke Divinity School. Her research focuses on prophetic literature, apocalypticism, early Jewish literature, embodiment, violence and nonviolence, and justice. She also teaches and writes in the area of Christian preaching and is a frequent contributor to the Working Preacher website. Her recent book, The Prophetic Body: Embodiment and Mediation in Biblical Prophetic Literature, is part of a larger project on the theme of embodiment in biblical prophetic literature. Her monograph Apocalypse against Empire: Theologies of Resistance in Early Judaism won the Manfred Lautenschläger Award for Theological Promise. She co-edited with Gregory Sterling Scripture and Social Justice: Catholic and Ecumenical Essays. She holds degrees from Yale University, Jesuit School of Theology/Graduate Theological Union, and Duke University. 

July 12 — Rev. Dr. Robert W. Brewer

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Rev. Dr. Robert W. Brewer is a United Methodist minister and serves as the campus chaplain and assistant professor of religion at Greensboro College in Greensboro, North Carolina. Rev. Dr. Brewer received his Doctor of Theology in homiletics from the University of Toronto. At Greensboro College, he oversees religious life and community service, and teaches courses in spiritual development, hermeneutics, homiletics, Methodism, and juggling. He is a contributor to The New Interpreters Theological Companion to the Lectionary and the Common English Student Bible. He has spoken at various events, including Summit, NC Kaleidoscope, and the Canadian National Youth Conference. He is a certified professional coach and works with ministers in North Carolina to renew their passion for preaching.

July 19 — Dr. Amey Victoria Adkins-Jones, D’09, G’16

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Dr. Amey Victoria Adkins-Jones is assistant professor of theology and Africana studies at Candler School of Theology. Dr. Adkins-Jones came to Candler from Boston College, where she served as assistant professor of theology and African and African diaspora studies. A constructive theologian and scholar of Black religion, she specializes in Mariology, Black feminist and womanist thought, and theological anthropology. Her first monograph, Immaculate Misconceptions: A Black Mariology, offers a theological account of the global sex trade, centering the Black Madonna to examine how Christian theologies of purity and rape intersect with Black flesh. She is also the recipient of a Louisville Institute Sabbatical Grant for Researchers to support her monograph project See No Evil: Technology, Violence, and the Future of Black Being, which explores how visual technologies impact public perception of violence and Black death, developing a theological framework for Black protest. She is a member of the American Academy of Religion, the American Studies Association, the National Women’s Studies Association, and the Society of Christian Ethics.

August 2 — Rev. Reynolds Chapman, D’10

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The Rev. Reynolds Chapman serves as executive director of DurhamCares and as an associate minister at Mt. Level Missionary Baptist Church. His work in Durham focuses on holistic discipleship: equipping people and communities to embody the gospel in every aspect of life. Since 2016, he has led the design and implementation of the Durham Pilgrimage of Pain and Hope, a program that has facilitated more than seventy local pilgrimages and taken over 1,000 people on a journey of discovering how Durham’s story, their stories, and God’s story are woven together. He has worked with hundreds of churches in Durham, facilitating spaces for collaboration and equipping them to listen to their communities and care for their neighbors. He has been involved in advocacy efforts for racial justice, housing justice, police reform, preservation of Black communities, public history and narrative justice, and protections for the unhoused community. Rev. Chapman grew up in Voluntown, Connecticut, and currently lives in Durham with his family. He holds degrees in English Literature, Music, and Religion from the University of Richmond and an M.Div. from Duke Divinity School. He is an ordained minister in the Evangelical Covenant Church. His writing can be found online in magazines and on Substack.

August 9 — Dr. Efraín Agosto

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Dr. Efraín Agosto served as the Bennett Boskey Distinguished Visiting Professor in Latina/o studies at Williams College from 2023 to 2025. In 2021–2022, he was the Croghan Bicentennial Professor in Biblical and Early Christian Studies at Williams, and visiting professor in Latinx studies and religion in 2022–2023. Prior to Williams, Dr. Agosto was professor of New Testament studies at New York Theological Seminary, and professor of New Testament and director of the Programa de Ministerios Hispanos at Hartford Seminary. A Puerto Rican born and raised in New York City, he received his B.A. from Columbia University, M.Div. from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and PhD in New Testament studies from Boston University. His publications include the monograph Servant Leadership: Jesus and Paul, 1 y 2 Corintios, a Spanish-language commentary, and a book of sermons, Preaching in the Interim: Transitional Leadership in the Latino/a Church. Together with Jacqueline Hidalgo, he co-edited Latinxs, the Bible and Migration. Currently, with a grant from the Louisville Institute, he is conducting archival research on the twentieth-century Puerto Rican independence movement leader Pedro Albizu Campos, with a focus on the religious foundations of his work.

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