Union-PSCE Inaugurates President 

In a festive outdoor ceremony on the seminary quadrangle, Brian K. Blount was inaugurated as President of Union Theological Seminary & Presbyterian School of Christian Education on Wednesday, May 7.

The service of installation drew more than 800 persons to the Richmond campus of the historic theological seminary.

Video highlights of the inauguration service, as well as a video of Dr. Blount’s sermon, are available online.

Blount preached a passionate and powerful sermon from the 11th chapter of John. He connected the biblical story of Lazarus – whom Jesus raised from the dead — with the difficulties facing theological seminaries and a shrinking Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) denomination.

“My fear for the church and for the seminaries that educate its leaders,” said Blount, “is that we’ll get too used to being ill and dying, that we’ll get seduced by the calm and peace of the tomb, that we’ll start decorating in there, make ourselves at home with our own decay, ignore the stench of stale approaches, and ignore the call to get up from that deadness and come out!

“Is Union-PSCE ready for God to turn us into that kind of change-maker? he asked. “Can we envision the future right now, see what God is calling this seminary to look like in 10 years, not from where it is, but from where it ought to be?”

A choir from Carver Memorial Presbyterian Church in Newport News, Va., where Blount served as pastor, participated in the inauguration ceremony. A brass ensemble accompanied the service. Members of the Board of Trustees, alumni/ae, students from the seminary, and President Blount's father, R. Edward Blount, had leadership roles in the worship service.

Art Ross, the chair of the Board of Trustees and pastor of White Memorial Presbyterian Church in Raleigh, NC, presided over the formal installation of Blount as president.

Joining in the inaugural procession were representatives from 50 academic institutions, nine ecclesiastical representatives, members of the Board of Trustees, members of the faculty, and Louis B. Weeks, immediate past president of Union-PSCE.

A gifted preacher, teacher, writer, and New Testament scholar, Blount’s sermon for the inaugural service was titled “Are You Ready?”

Receptions following the service were held on the campus and in the newly renovated Allen and Jeannette Early Center for Christian Education and Worship. The new building, which will offer state-of-the-art technology for teaching and adaptive space for worship, was the signature project of a successful capital campaign for the seminary completed last year.

Blount began his service as president in July 2007. He was called as president on March 30, 2007, following a lengthy national search. A native of Smithfield, Va., Blount served as pastor of Carver Memorial Presbyterian Church in Newport News, Va., from 1982 to 1988. From 1992 - 2007 he taught as a professor of New Testament at Princeton Theological Seminary.

Blount is the author, co-author, editor, or associate editor of numerous books including True to Our Native Land: An African American New Testament Commentary, for which he was the general editor; Can I Get A Witness? Reading Revelation Through African American Culture; and Preaching Mark in Two Voices, a book co-written with Gary Charles, pastor of Central Presbyterian Church in Atlanta. He has also served as the associate editor of the The New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, published last year.

Blount is the first African American to serve as president of a theological seminary of the Presbyterian Church (USA). He is the second president since the federation of Union Theological Seminary with the Presbyterian School of Christian Education in 1997. Blount succeeded Louis B. Weeks who served as president from 1994 – 2007.

The inauguration came at the conclusion of the seminary's annual Sprunt Lectures alumni/ae gathering. A simultaneous event for African American theologians was organized in Richmond by Union-PSCE professor Katie Geneva Cannon. The convergence of these events with the inauguration enabled large numbers of graduates, church members, and academic colleagues to be present for the inauguration service.