Faculty Profiles

Dr. McCaulley's Preferred

Esau McCaulley, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of New Testament

On Faculty since 2019




Esau McCaulley, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of New Testament. His first book, entitled Sharing in the Son’s Inheritance, was published by T & T Clark in 2019. His second book, Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope, was published by IVP Academic in 2020. It won numerous awards including Christianity Today’s Book of the Year. His most recent work was a children’s book entitled Josey Johnson’s Hair and the Holy Spirit for IVP Kids. He is a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times. His writings have also appeared in places such as The Atlantic, Washington Post, and Christianity Today. He is married to Mandy, a pediatrician and navy reservist. Together, they have four wonderful children.

Ph.D.       New Testament, University of St. Andrews, 2017

S.T.M.      Nashotah House Theological Seminary, 2012

M.DIV.     Gordon-Conwell Theology Seminary, 2005

B.A.         History, University of the South, 2002

  • Pauline Exegesis and Theology, especially Galatians, Ephesians, and Romans
  • African American Biblical Interpretation
  • Second Temple Jewish and early Christian Messianism
  • Intertexuality
  • Society of Biblical Literature
  • Institute of Biblical Research

"Luke, Elizabeth, Zechariah, Mary, and Black Reconciliation with God"
Logos Conference, University of St Andrews, St. Andrews, Scotland (June 2019)

"Towards a New Testament Theology of Policing: Rom 13:4, Luke 3:14, and the Hopes of Black Christians"
IBR UnScripted, Society of Biblical Literature Annual Conference, Denver, Colorado (November 2018)

"Gal 4:3–7: The Covenant Curses and the Elements of the Earth"
Society of Biblical Literature Annual Conference, Denver, Colorado (November 2018)

"The Inheritance of the Servant and the Son: on the Use of Isaiah 53:12 LXX in Galatians 1:4"
Society of Biblical Literature Annual Conference, San Antonio, Texas (November 2016)

"Who Will Inherit the Land? Galatians 3:26-29 and Paul's Interpretation of Jewish Inheritance Law"
Evangelical Theological Society Annual Conference, Atlanta, Georgia (November 2015)

"The Curse, the Cross, and the Cleansing of the Land: Paul’s use of Scripture in Galatians 3:10–14"
British New Testament Conference, Edinburgh, Scotland (September 2015)

Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope. IVP Academic (2020).

“Thurman among Modern Jesus Scholars: Howard Thurman’s Jesus and the Disinherited in Conversation with Jens Schröter and Dale Allison” Journal For The Study Of The Historical Jesus 17 (2019) 1-14

Sharing in the Son’s Inheritance: Davidic Messianism and Paul’s Worldwide Interpretation of the Abrahamic Land Promise in Galatians Library of New Testament Studies, T & T Clark (2019).