The 2022 Northcutt Lecture

The 35th-annual Northcutt Lecture will present a talk by Mary Louise Bringle on Tuesday, March 29, beginning at 4:00 p.m. in Armstrong Browning Library’s McLean Foyer of Meditation.
Dr. Bringle is Professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies and Coordinator of the Integrated Studies major at Brevard College in Brevard, North Carolina. She began writing hymn texts in 1999, and her original hymn texts and translations are now included in hymnals and supplements of numerous denominations in North America and Scotland. GIA has published two single-author collections of her hymns: Joy and Wonder, Love and Longing (2002) and In Wind and Wonder (2007), as well as anthems written in collaboration with composers William Rowan, Sally Morris, and others. She has served as president of The Hymn Society and chair of the Presbyterian Committee on Congregational Song, responsible for creating the 2013 PCUSA hymnal Glory to God. In the summer of 2020, Dr. Bringle was named a Fellow of The Hymn Society. She is a ruling elder at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Hendersonville, North Carolina.
This year’s lecture topic will be “Creature Canticles: or, Where Have All the Animals Gone?” According to Dr. Bringle, “Throughout the Bible, the whole creation is called to join in praise of God: from wild animals and cattle, to creeping things and flying birds (Psalm 148:10). However, hymn texts from the Western Christian tradition contain oddly few references to other-than-human creatures. In this talk, I document that curious omission along with its few notable exceptions; propose a few explanatory hypotheses; and highlight remedial directions that have been taken (and might be taken further) by recent hymn text writers to return animals to their rightful place in creation’s song.”
The Northcutt Lecture, made possible by an endowment from Cassandra Northcutt and the late LeGrande Northcutt of Longview, Texas, brings nationally and internationally known scholars in church music to Baylor. It is presented free of charge and open to the public.