Princeton Seminary professor helps students understand the richness of the Christian worship tradition
Dr. Elsie Anne McKee
As the daughter and granddaughter of foreign missionaries, Dr. Elsie Anne McKee was raised with the understanding that training pastors is intimately involved in the life of the church.
“It is not something that I think I ever questioned,” said McKee, the Archibald Alexander Professor of Reformation Studies and the History of Worship at Princeton Theological Seminary. “It is a part of my heritage.”
McKee, who was born and raised in the Democratic Republic of Congo, recalls watching her father, a theological education teacher, work closely with ministers and evangelists from the university level all the way to the villages.
“That shapes my understanding of the work of both church and seminary,” she said. “There is no disconnect.”
McKee earned a Ph.D. at Princeton Seminary and a diploma in theology from the University of Cambridge. Her background is in Reformation history, and when she was invited to teach at Princeton it was to focus on the history of worship.
“I think this was an important step that Princeton made,” she said. The board of trustees believed it was an area of history that was needed, said McKee, a Presbyterian elder.
The seminary believes it is important not just to know how to preach, but also to have the historical understanding of worship in an ecumenical and Reformed sense, she said.
“Seminaries are helping prepare those who will be leading worship,” McKee said. Many have worshipped in different ways through the ages and across continents, and understanding that “is another way teaching and congregational life are related,” she said.
McKee said appreciating “the richness of the Christian tradition” is essential, as is cooperating with other ecumenical communities.
It is important for seminarians to make contact with other Christian communities in the classroom and in their own worshipping life “so they can be educational bridges for their congregations,” she said. “Other ways of worshipping are worth respecting, even if they don’t want to adopt them.”
McKee pointed out, for example, that in some African congregations offerings are brought forth in dancing. “Things like that I want my student to sense and be able to communicate to their congregations,” she said.
At the same time, she said, congregations who encounter pastors and other Christian leaders equipped with this theological training will be enriched.
“It’s valuable for the congregations who are intelligent, educated lay people who have not . . . ever really explored the historical, the theological, the liturgical aspects of the larger church,” she said. One can’t live a fully fruitful life “unless you understand your history.”
Princeton Seminary professor helps students understand the richness of the Christian worship tradition
As the daughter and granddaughter of foreign missionaries, Dr. Elsie Anne McKee was raised with the understanding that training pastors is intimately involved in the life of the church.
“It is not something that I think I ever questioned,” said McKee, the Archibald Alexander Professor of Reformation Studies and the History of Worship at Princeton Theological Seminary. “It is a part of my heritage.”
McKee, who was born and raised in the Democratic Republic of Congo, recalls watching her father, a theological education teacher, work closely with ministers and evangelists from the university level all the way to the villages.
“That shapes my understanding of the work of both church and seminary,” she said. “There is no disconnect.”
McKee earned a Ph.D. at Princeton Seminary and a diploma in theology from the University of Cambridge. Her background is in Reformation history, and when she was invited to teach at Princeton it was to focus on the history of worship.
“I think this was an important step that Princeton made,” she said. The board of trustees believed it was an area of history that was needed, said McKee, a Presbyterian elder.
The seminary believes it is important not just to know how to preach, but also to have the historical understanding of worship in an ecumenical and Reformed sense, she said.
“Seminaries are helping prepare those who will be leading worship,” McKee said. Many have worshipped in different ways through the ages and across continents, and understanding that “is another way teaching and congregational life are related,” she said.
McKee said appreciating “the richness of the Christian tradition” is essential, as is cooperating with other ecumenical communities.
It is important for seminarians to make contact with other Christian communities in the classroom and in their own worshipping life “so they can be educational bridges for their congregations,” she said. “Other ways of worshipping are worth respecting, even if they don’t want to adopt them.”
McKee pointed out, for example, that in some African congregations offerings are brought forth in dancing. “Things like that I want my student to sense and be able to communicate to their congregations,” she said.
At the same time, she said, congregations who encounter pastors and other Christian leaders equipped with this theological training will be enriched.
“It’s valuable for the congregations who are intelligent, educated lay people who have not . . . ever really explored the historical, the theological, the liturgical aspects of the larger church,” she said. One can’t live a fully fruitful life “unless you understand your history.”
