Alexandra Brown Fletcher Otey Thomas Professor in Bible
Tucker 206
540-458-8789
browna@wlu.edu
Curriculum Vitae
on sabbatical 2024-2025
Education
Ph.D. Columbia University/Union Theological Seminary 1990
M.Div. Yale Divinity School, 1980
B.A. Duke University, Religion, 1977
Research
Early Christian Literature, The Writings and Legacy of Saint Paul, Reception History of Pauline Theology
Teaching
Early Christian Writings and Culture from the New Testament to Late Antiquity, Bible and Film, Pilgrimage, Mysticism, Gender and Religion, Early Irish Religion, Theory and Method in the Study of Religion
Selected Writings and Projects
Books
The Cross and Human Transformation: Paul’s Apocalyptic Word in 1 Corinthians (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1995)
Putting Body and Soul Together: Essays in Honor of Robin Scroggs eds. Virginia Wiles, Alexandra Brown, Graydon Snyder (Valley Forge: Trinity Press, 1997)
The Church in Community Health Programs, The Program Agency, United Presbyterian Church in the USA, 1981.
Current Projects
First Corinthians: A Commentary (New Testament Library Series) in progress andunder contract with Westminster/John Knox Press.
Paul and the Poetic Imagination. Book manuscript in progress.
1 and 2 Corinthians for The Cambridge Companion to the New Testament, invited manuscript in progress for publication by Cambridge University Press in 2020.
Selected Research published since 2000
“Sin and Its Remedy in 1 Corinthians” submitted for publication in series Contours of Pauline Theology (Cascade imprint of Wipf and Stock) projected 2020
“Kairos Gathered: Time, Tempo, and Typology in 1 Corinthians, ”Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology, Vol 72. 1, Jan. 2018.
“Introduction and Annotations for 2 Corinthians” in the New Oxford Annotated Bible (5th edition) Oxford University Press, 2018.
“John 1:19-28,” “John 1:29-34;” “John 1:35-42,” Three essays for Feasting on the Gospels, John, Volume 1, eds. Cynthia Jarvis and Elizabeth A. Johnson (Westminster/John Knox Press) 2015.
“Creation, Gender and Identity in New Cosmic Perspective,” for The Unrelenting God: Essays on God's Action in Scripture in Honor of Beverly Roberts Gaventa edited by David J. Downs and Matthew L. Skinner, Eerdmans, 2013.
“Paul’s Apocalyptic Cross and Philosophy: Reading 1 Corinthians with Giorgio Agamben and Alain Badiou,” in Joshua B. Davis and Douglas Harink, Apocalyptic and the Future of Theology (Eugene Oregon, Cascade Books) 2012, 96-117.
"Wisdom Literature: Theoretical Perspectives, "The Encyclopedia of Religion, ed., Mircea Eliade (New York: MacMillan Press, 1986). Revised for second edition, 2005.
“Narrative Theology in the Pauline Epistles? A Response to Papers by Richard Hays and Sylvia Keesmat” in Horizons in Biblical Theology, Vol 26. No.1, 2004.
“Character Formation or Character Transformation? The Challenge of Cruciform Exegesis for Character Ethics in Paul,” in William P. Brown, ed., The Character of Scripture: Moral Formation, Community, and Biblical Interpretation (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002).
“Paul and the Parousia” in John T. Carroll, ed., The Return of Jesus in Early Christianity (Peabody, Mass: Hendrickson, 2000).
Essays on “Regeneration,” “Latter Days,” and “Judgment” for the Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000).
Book Reviews since 2000
Review of Charles L. Campbell, 1 Corinthians: Belief – A Theological Commentary on the Bible (Westminster/John Knox, 2018) Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology 73.2 (2019) 199-201.
Review of Kyle B. Wells, Grace and Agency in Paul and Second Temple Judaism: The Transformation of the Heart (Novum Testatmentum Supplements, 157: Brill, 2014) Journal of Theological Studies (Oxford University Press) 69.1 (2018) 299-301.
Review of J.P. Davies, Paul Among the Apocalypses? An Evaluation of the “Apocalyptic Paul in the Context of Jewish and Christian Apocalyptic Literature (London/New Dehli/Sydney: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2016)Catholic Biblical Quarterly 80.2 (2018) 330-331.
Review of L.L. Welborn, Paul’s Summons to Messianic Life, (New York: Columbia University Press, 2015) for Review of Biblical Literature, July 2016.
Review of N.T. Wright, Paul and the Faithfulness of God, (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2013) for The Christian Century, October 2014.
Review of J.M.F. Heath, Paul’s Visual Piety: The Metamorphosis of the Believer (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013) for The Expository Times 125.12, 2014.
Review of Francis Taylor Gench, Encountering God in Tyrannical Texts, (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2014) for The Christian Century (forthcoming)
ReviewofMichael Lakey, Image and Glory of God: 1 Corinthians 11:2-16 as a Case Study in Bible, Gender and Hermeneutics (Library of New Testament Studies 418; London/New York: Clark, 2010) for Catholic Biblical Quarterly (2012).
Review of Margaret Mitchell, Paul, the Corinthians and the Birth of Christian Hermeneutics (Cambridge University Press, 2010) for Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology (2011)
Review of Douglas A. Campbell, The Deliverance of God: An Apocalyptic Rereading of Justification in Paul (Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 2009) for Theology Today 68.1, April 2011.
Review of Ian W. Scott, Paul’s Way of Knowing (Grand Rapids, Baker Academic, 2009) for Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology (2011).
Review of Vincent P. Brannick, Understanding Paul and His Letters (New York, Paulist Press, 2009) for Biblical Theology Bulletin 41.1 (February, 2011).
Review of Anthony C. Thiselton, The First Epistle to the Corinthians: A Commentary on the Greek Text (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000) in Interpretation 56, no.1, 2002.
Lecture Series
The Speaks Lecture Series at Hood Seminary, Salisbury N.C.: 1) “The Word of the Cross and Speech-Activism;” 2) “Gathering Time: Sounding Kairos in the Congregation.” October 7-8, 2016.
“The Making and Remaking of the Bible,” “Assembling the Text: How the Letters of Paul Were Collected, Translated and Included in the Bible,” and “The Bible and the Enlightenment.” Three lectures for the Washington and Lee Alumni College, The History of the Bible, June, 2012.
Three Lectures for the 2004 Washington and Lee Alumni College: The Historical Jesus: Early Christianity and the New Testament: 1) “The Theologian and the Historical Jesus;” 2) “The Earliest Witness to Jesus: Paul;” 3) “Paul and the Accounts of Jesus’ Death and Resurrection”
Selected Conference Papers
Formal Response to paper by David Konstan (Classics, NYU) on “Forgiveness in the New Testament and Classical Literature” for the Bible and the Emotions session at the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature, Boston MA, November, 2017.
“Gathering Time: Typology and Temporality in 1 Corinthians” a paper presented by invitation for the Columbia New Testament Seminar at Columbia University, New York, February 2016.
“1 Corinthians 1-2 for Divinity Students.” Guest lecture at Duke Divinity School, April 2016.
Formal Response to paper by Mark Burrows on Rilke and Theology entitled “Poetic Transgressions and Theological Writing: Rilke’s Sonnets to Orpheus as an Experiment in Bricolage” for the Society of Biblical Theologians, annual meeting, February 2015.
“Breton’s Radical Paul: Philosophical Rupture and the Apocalypse of the Cross,” a paper for the American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, Nov. 2014. “Explorations in Theology and Apocalyptic” session.
“Paul’s Apocalyptic Cross meets Philosophy” a paper delivered to Duodecim, an invited colloquium of theologians and biblical scholars. May, 2012.
“Preaching Paul on the Cross and Human Transformation.” Guest lecture for Duke Divinity School, April, 2011.
“Paul, Messianic Power and the Cross: Reading 1 Corinthians with Two 21st Century Philosophers,” a seminar for the Center for Theological Inquiry, Princeton, NJ, February 2010.
“Paul and Agency in the Time that Remains,” a paper for the Pauline Soteriology Group of the Society for Biblical Literature, November 2008.
“Discerning the Mystery: Education as Paying Attention,” Baccalaureate Address for Washington and Lee University, June 2007.
“The Apostle Paul and the Corinthian Women,” Class of ’62 Lecture at Washington and Lee University, September 2006.
“Narrative Theology in the Pauline Epistles? A Response to Papers by Richard Hays and Sylvia Keesmat” delivered at the 2003 Annual Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature
“New Testament Theology in Crisis: Can it Be Saved?” Class of ‘62 Lecture at Washington and Lee, December 2002.
“The Secular Liberal Arts College and the Religious Studies Curriculum in the 21stCentury,” a paper for a conference on Religious Studies Curricula at the University of Chicago, March 2002.
“Character Formation or Character Transformation? The Challenge of Cruciform Exegesis for Character Ethics in Paul,” a talk for the Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, 2001.