African Americans Understood Paul’s Words While Slave Owners Twisted Them (Lisa Bowens)

Dr. Lisa Marie Bowens (PhD, Princeton Theological Seminary) is Associate Professor of New Testament at Princeton Theological Seminary. Her first book, An Apostle in Battle: Paul and Spiritual Warfare in 2 Corinthians 12:1-10, is a revision of her dissertation and examines Paul’s ascent to the third heaven through a cosmic/apocalyptic lens. Her second book, African American Readings of Paul: Reception, Resistance, and Transformation, is the first book to investigate a historical trajectory of how African Americans have understood Paul and utilized his work to resist and protest injustice and racism in their own writings from the 1700s to the mid-twentieth century. Her current projects include working as a contributor and co-editor with Scot McKnight and Joseph Modica on Preaching Romans From Here (forthcoming); as co-writer with Amy Peeler on an article on New Testament, race, and gender for The New Testament in Color (forthcoming); and two commentaries, one on 2 Corinthians and one on 1–2 Thessalonians.

Her research interests include Paul and apocalyptic literature, Pauline anthropology, Pauline epistemology, discipleship in the gospels, African American Pauline Hermeneutics, and New Testament exegesis and interpretation. She is a member of the Society of Biblical Literature, the Society of Pentecostal Studies, Society for the Study of Black Religion, American Academy of Religion, and a past Fund for Theological Education fellow.

Founder and Director of the Center for Hebraic Thought

Dru teaches Biblical literature, theology, and biblical interpretation at The King’s College. He is an editor for the Routledge Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Biblical Criticism series; an associate director for the Jewish Philosophical Theology Project at The Herzl Institute in Israel; and a co-host for the OnScript Podcast. His recent books include Biblical Philosophy: An Hebraic Approach to the Old and New Testaments (Cambridge University Press); Human Rites: The Power of Rituals, Habits, and Sacraments (Eerdmans); and Epistemology and Biblical Theology (Routledge). 

Before that, he was a high-school dropout, skinhead, punk rock drummer, combat veteran, IT supervisor, and pastor—all things that he hopes none of his children ever become.

He and his wife have four children. Interviews, articles, and excerpts of books can found at drujohnson.com.