Mentors & Areas of Interest

We work with a model of strong personal and academic relationships between our students and their doctoral mentors (supervisors) from the very start of their program right through their dissertation defense. Additional faculty are available to teach doctoral seminars, serve as resources, and act as secondary readers for dissertations. Applicants to the program will choose a specific mentor and a corresponding area of dissertation interest.

Areas of Study

Students will choose one of the following concentrations:

  • Biblical Theology (Old / New Testament emphasis)
  • Systematic (and/or Historical) Theology

Students interested in systematic/historical theology should preference a particular mentor but also indicate whether or not this preference is exclusive. Since topic areas for supervision can overlap, willingness to work with one or more of the other mentors might increase a student's chances for admission. We seek to construct the best overall cohort of students depending on our applicant pool, and the number(s) of new students anticipated by a mentor can sometimes shift throughout the year as previous students complete the program. However, certain topics for study or interests in our program are naturally mentor-specific. Please be in communication with your preferred mentor and/or the theology coordinator before applying.

Biblical Theology, Old Testament Emphasis

Dr. Daniel Block (Not accepting applicants for Fall 2014)

Knoedler Professor of Old Testament

  • The Literature and Theology of Deuteronomy
  • King David in History, Tradition, and Theology
  • The Literature and Theology of Judges and Ruth
  • The Literature and Theology of Ezekiel
  • Old Testament Ethics

Dr. Richard Schultz (Accepting applicants Fall 2014)

Blanchard Professor of Biblical Studies

  • Wisdom Theology and Ethics (especially Proverbs and Ecclesiastes)
  • The Literature and Theology of Isaiah
  • The Theology of the Prophetic Corpus (especially covenant, eschatology, messianism, nationalism and universalism, social ethics)
  • Inner-Biblical Exegesis or OT Intertextuality and its Theological Implications
  • Canonical Approaches to OT Exegesis or Biblical Theology
  • Theological Themes in the OT Narrative Literature

Biblical Theology, New Testament Emphasis

Dr. Douglas Moo (Accepting applicants for Fall 2014)

Wessner Professor of New Testament

  • Topics in Pauline Theology
  • The Epistle to the Hebrews
  • New Testament Theology and Environmental Issues

Dr. Nicholas Perrin (Accepting applicants for Fall 2014)

Franklin S. Dyrness Professor of Biblical Studies

  • Historical Jesus and ethics
  • Theology of the Synoptic Gospels
  • Theology of second-century Christianity
  • New Testament Theology

Systematic/Historical Theology Emphasis

Dr. Jeffrey Barbeau (Not accepting applicants for Fall 2014)

Associate Professor of Theology

  • British and American historical theology (esp. 18th-20th centuries)
  • Theology and British Romantic Literature
  • Methodist and Wesleyan theologies
  • Doctrine of the Holy Spirit

Dr. Marc Cortez (Accepting applicants for Fall 2014)

Associate Professor of Theology

  • Theological Anthropology (esp. the image of God, the body/soul relationship, human sexuality, and free will)
  • Contemporary Christology (esp. the incarnation and the humanity of Christ)
  • Philosophical Theology (primarily the relationship between metaphysics and systematic theology)
  • Global and Contextual Theology (the nature of culture, the impact of cultural context on theology, particular expressions of contextual theology)
  • The Theology of Karl Barth

Dr. George Kalantzis (Not accepting applicants for Fall 2014)

Associate Professor of Theology

  • The development of early Christian (patristic) theology, especially the doctrines of the Trinity and Christology
  • Alexandrian Theology and Hermeneutics (esp. Origen, Athanasius, Cyril of Alexandria)
  • Antiochene Theology and Hermeneutics (esp. Theodore of Mopsuestia, Nestorius, Theodoret of Cyrus)
  • The Cappadocian Fathers
  • Augustinian theology
  • Patristic exegesis and historiography
  • The relationship between Christianity and classical culture and the emergence of Christendom

Dr. Daniel Treier (Accepting applicants for Fall 2014)

Professor of Theology

  • Ecclesiology and aspects of political theology (e.g., the work of Oliver O’Donovan)
  • Protestant Christology and Trinitarian doctrine (including faith-and-history concerns; engagement with biblical theology)
  • Justification and atonement
  • Prolegomena
  • Engagement with “postmodern” or “postliberal” theologians (e.g., Colin Gunton)
  • Other select topics in evangelical and modern Anglo-American systematic theology

Additional Faculty Resources

In addition to the mentors listed above, students in the Ph.D. program are able to draw on the resources of the twenty-five person Biblical & Theological Studies department, as well as faculty in related disciplines at Wheaton College.

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