Michal Beth Dinkler

Th.D., New Testament and Early Christian Studies, Harvard University
M.Div., Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary
M.A., English Literature, Stanford University
B.A., English Literature, Stanford University

Professor Dinkler’s research lies at the intersection of New Testament and Ancient Christianity (NT/AC) and contemporary literary theory, providing a generative vantage point from which to advance scholarly discourse in multiple arenas. Treating a range of literature both within and external to the NT canon, her work consistently argues that literary theory can reshape the complex hermeneutical discussions that animate NT/AC studies and its adjacent disciplines. Professor Dinkler’s first book, Silent Statements: Narrative Representations of Speech and Silence in the Gospel of Luke (2013), demonstrates how close attention to speech and silence illuminates the plot, characterization, themes, and narrative rhetoric of Luke’s Gospel. Her second book, Literary Theory and New Testament Scholarship (2019), stands as the only comprehensive account of the half-century during which NT scholars have interfaced with literary theory; guiding students and scholars of the New Testament through the maze of contemporary literary theory, the volume argues for the interpretive benefits of an updated literary approach to the New Testament. In addition to chapters in edited volumes, Professor Dinkler’s work has been published in journals such as the Journal of Biblical Literature, Journal for the Study of the New Testament, and New Testament Studies, among others. She co-chairs the Gospel of Luke Section and serves on the Steering Committee for the Book of Acts Section of the Society of Biblical Literature, and serves on the editorial boards of Catholic Biblical Quarterly and The Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception. Professor Dinkler is an elected member of Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas, a Research Fellow at Universität Regensburg, and a Research Associate at the University of Pretoria. She is also an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA).