Holly Hearon
T.J. and Virginia Liggett Professor Emerita of Christian Traditions and Professor of New Testament

Holly Hearon, T.J. and Virginia Liggett Professor of Christian Traditions and New Testament, holds a PhD from the Graduate Theological Union, a DMin from Union Presbyterian Seminary, and a BA from Wellesley College.

Hearon’s research interests include the roles of media and memory in shaping theology, ethics, and identity, women and Christian origins, and the emergence of Christianity within Formative Judaism.

Recent publications include “The Interplay between Written and Spoken Word in the Second Testament as Background to the Emergence of Written Gospels,” in Oral Tradition, 2011; “Mapping Written and Spoken Word in the Gospel of Mark.” In The Interface of Orality and Writing: Seeing, Speaking, Writing in the Shaping of New Genres, ed. Annette Weisenrieder and Robert Coote.(Mohr Siebeck, 2010; “Storytelling in Oral and Written Media Contexts of the Ancient Mediterranean World,” in Jesus, the Voice, and the Text, ed. Tom Thatcher (Baylor University Press, 2008); “The Implications of Orality for Studies of the Biblical Text,” in Performing the Gospel: Orality, Memory and Mark, ed. Richard A. Horsley, Jonathan A. Draper, and John Miles Foley (Fortress, 2006); “The Story of ‘the Woman Who Anointed Jesus’ as Social Memory: A Methodological Proposal for the Study of Tradition as Memory,” in Memory, Tradition, and Text: Uses of the Past in Early Christianity, Semeia Studies 52, ed. Alan Kirk and Tom Thatcher (SBL, 2005); “Listen to the Voices of the Women” (with Linda Maloney), in Distant Voices Drawing Near: Essays in Honor of Antoinette Clark Wire, ed. Holly Hearon (Liturgical Press, 2004).

Her book “The Mary Magdalene Tradition: Witness and Counter-Witness in Early Christian Communities” (The Liturgical Press, 2004) was awarded first place in the category of “first time author” by the Catholic Press Association; Hearon is a member of the Society of Biblical Literature (currently serving as co-chair of the Bible in Ancient and Modern Media Section), the Catholic Biblical Association, and is a past President of the Midwest Society of Biblical Literature.

She is also a minister of word and sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and a regular contributor to the Working Preacher. She was also a writer for the Human Rights Campaign’s “Out in Scripture” project. When not in her study or classroom, she enjoys Civic Theatre, gardening, travel, and playing piano fourhand.

Curriculum Vitae