Hopson Church Music Symposium Lecture
This event is sponsored by the Hal and Martha Hopson Endowed Symposium for Church Music.
2025 Hopson Symposium Events
Hopson Church Music Symposium Lecture - “One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism: Congregational Song”
Dr. James Abbington, Candler School of Theology
Friday, February 14, 2025 | 12:00 – 1:00 pm in Shelton Chapel
Lunch provided (in chapel)
Choral Reading Session with Dr. James Abbington, Hopson Scholar
Friday, February 14, 2025 | 1:00 – 2:00pm in Shelton Chapel
Register Here!
About the 2025 Hopson Scholar
Dr. W. James Abbington’s research interests include music and worship in the Christian church, African American sacred folk music, organ, choral music, and ethnomusicology. Along with his roles at Candler, where he has taught since 2005, Abbington is executive editor of the African American Church Music Series by GIA Publications (Chicago). In addition to writing and editing, he has produced numerous recordings under GIA.
One of the nation’s most respected choir directors, musicians and authors, Abbington is a popular speaker, performer and conductor at universities, conferences, symposiums and churches around the world. From 2000 to 2010, Abbington served as co-director of music for the Hampton University Ministers’ and Musicians’ Conference, and as the national director of music for both the Progressive National Baptist Convention and the NAACP. In 2010, Hampton’s Choir Directors and Organists Guild honored Abbington by naming their Church Music Academy after him, and in 2015, he became the second African American to be named a Fellow of The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada.
Abbington is a member of Friendship Baptist Church, where he frequently directs the choir.