Davina C. Lopez (PhD, Union Theological Seminary, New York) is an academic citizen and scholar of religion who has expertise in the New Testament, Christian origins, and early Christianities. She also has formal training in the study of gender and sexuality, social and critical theories, and ethics. She is Professor of Religious Studies, and core faculty in Women’s and Gender Studies, at Eckerd College in St Petersburg, Florida. Prof. Lopez is the author of Apostle to the Conquered: Reimagining Paul’s Mission (Fortress, 2008), the co-author of De-Introducing the New Testament: Texts, Worlds, Methods, Stories (Wiley, 2015), and a senior editor for the Greek World, Roman World, New Testament, and Early Church areas of The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Bible and Gender Studies (OUP, 2014), as well as articles, essays, and reviews in biblical, ancient, and religious studies.

Davina teaches courses that emphasize the relationship between ancient and modern worlds; methodology in interpretation of religious texts and traditions; “cults” and the various issues at stake in understanding religious innovation; and the continuing relevance of sacred texts, including the Bible, as significant sites for articulations of power relationships and community identity-formation across time and cultures. A dedicated professor of the liberal arts and humanities, she also teaches courses for the Film Studies, Ancient Studies, and Women’s and Gender Studies programs at Eckerd College, as well as reflective service-learning courses focusing on issues of poverty, intimate violence, mass incarceration, and ex-offender re-entry.