Kelli Bryant Gibson, DPhil
Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Theology, Abilene Christian University
email: kelli.gibson@acu.edu | phone: 325-674-3709
Education
DPhil, Oriental Studies, University of Oxford, 2011 – 2015
Thesis title: Festal Apologetics: Syriac Treatises on the Feast of the Discovery of the Cross
MPhil, Eastern Christian Studies, University of Oxford, 2009 – 2011
Dissertation: The Christology of Dionysius bar Salibi’s treatise Against the Muslims
Master of Divinity, Abilene Christian University, 2004 – 2007
B.A., Missions, Abilene Christian University, 2000 – 2004
Employment
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Assistant Professor of Historical Theology, Graduate School of Theology, Abilene Christian University |
2015 – Present |
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Tutor in Syriac studies for visiting students, Mansfield College, University of Oxford |
2012 – 2013 |
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Adjunct instructor of New Testament Greek, Abilene Christian University, Study Abroad (Oxford, UK) |
2010 – 2013 |
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Visiting instructor of Religion, McMurry University |
2008 – 2009 |
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Adjunct instructor of Religion, McMurry University |
2007 – 2008 |
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Adjunct instructor of New Testament Greek, Abilene Christian University |
2006 – 2007 |
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Research assistant for Dr. Carroll Osburn; International Project on the Text of Acts; Abilene Christian University |
2004 – 2006 |
Courses Taught
Graduate courses
- BHEB 622 Elementary Syriac (residential)
- BIBH 651 History of Christianity I: Ancient and Medieval (residential and online)
- BIBD 661 Theological Explorations: Contested Monotheisms (residential)
- BGRK 611 Elementary New Testament Greek I (online)
- BGRK 612 Elementary New Testament Greek II (online)
- BIBD 640 Historical Theology (residential)
Undergraduate courses
- BIBH 432 The Story of Christian Spirituality (online)
- BIBT 342 Christianity and Culture (residential and online)
- BIBL 310 BCore: The Search for Meaning
- BGRK 211 & 212 Elementary Greek I & II
- BGRK 311 & 312 Intermediate New Testament Greek Readings I & II
- Syriac studies tutorials for visiting students (Mansfield College, University of Oxford)
- Introduction to Christianity (McMurry University)
- History of Christianity I (McMurry University)
Conference Presentations & Workshops
- “A Fragment of an Anonymous Muslim-Christian Dialogue.”
XIII Symposium Syriacum | Paris, France | 7 July 2022 - “‘Why Was It Necessary?’: John of Dara’s Defense of the Death of Jesus”
Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting | 22 November 2021 - “‘The Friend of Jesus’: Jacob of Serugh’s Version of the Abgar Legend”
The Year of Jacob of Serugh († 521) | Online conference | 18 August 2021
Recorded lecture available here. - “Echoes of Inter-religious Debate in the Writings of John of Dara”
Eighth North American Syriac Symposium | Brown University, Providence, RI | 18 June 2019 - Book panel response to Keith Stanglin’s The Letter and Spirit of Biblical Interpretation
Christian Scholars Conference | Lubbock Christian University, Lubbock, TX | 7 June 2019 - “Contact, Conversation, and Conversion: Early Islam and Christianity”
Invited lecture sponsored by CSART | 6 February 2018 - “An Early Syriac Apologia Crucis: Mēmrā 54 ‘On the Finding of the Holy Cross'”
The Narsai Workshop | Brigham Young University, Provo, UT | June 2017 - Mapping Ancient Lives & Social Networks: A Workshop and Collaborative Digital Publication
Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI | 23-24 May 2017 - “Echoes of inter-religious controversy in John of Dara’s homily On the Cross”
The Centre for Muslim-Christian Studies | Oxford, UK | 6 May 2014 - “Telling others’ stories: historical narrative in Dionysius bar Salibi’s treatise Against the Muslims”
XI Symposium Syriacum | Valleta, Malta | 17 July 2012 - “’We believe the same’: apologetic pretext in Dionysius bar Salibi’s Against the Muslims”
Islamic World Graduate Seminar | University of Oxford | 31 October 2011 - “Patristic influence on Syriac contra-Islamic apologies: the case of Dionysius bar Salibi”
16th International Patristics Conference | University of Oxford | 10 August 2011 - “You are what you eat: dietary metaphors in the Syriac Liber Graduum”
Workshop on the Syriac Liber Graduum | 15th International Patristics Conference | University of Oxford | 7 August 2007
Publications
Books
Jacob of Sarug’s Homilies on Abgar and Addai. English translation and introduction by Kelli Bryant Gibson. Syriac edition by Roger Akhrass and Imad Syryany. Gorgias Press, forthcoming (proofs received Sept. 6, 2022; publication expected in last quarter of 2022).
book contributions
- “‘The Friend of Jesus’: Jacob of Serugh’s Version of the Abgar Legend.” To be published in a collection of lectures given during the Year of Jacob of Serugh († 521) Conference. Edited by Armando Elkoury and Robert Kitchen. The Hidden Pearl Press, forthcoming.
(Paper submitted February 2022; publication expected in 2023)
See a letter from the editor here. - “Dionysius bar Salibi, Commentary on the Cross.” (English translation with introduction.) Pages 201-204 in The Bloomsbury Reader in Christian-Muslim Relations. Edited by David Thomas. Bloomsbury, 2022.
- “An Early Syriac Apologia Crucis: Mēmrā 54 ‘On the Finding of the Holy Cross.'” Pages 117-132 in Narsai: Rethinking His Work and World. Edited by Aaron Butts, Kristian Heal, and Robert Kitchen. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2020.
- English translation of Narsai’s Syriac Mēmrā 54: On the Finding of the Holy Cross for publication with a collection of Narsai’s homilies in the Fathers of the Church series, CUA Press (submitted September 2019; publication forthcoming).
See a letter from the editor here. - “You are what you eat: dietary metaphors in the Syriac Liber Graduum”
Pages 173-189 in Breaking the Mind: Studies on the Syriac Liber Graduum. Edited by Kristian Heal and Robert Kitchen. Provo, UT: BYU Press, 2014.
Book reviews
Aho Shemunkasho, ed. and tr. John of Dara, On the Resurrection of Human Bodies. (Gorgias Press, 2020). Pp. ix + 597; $165. Hugoye 25.2 (2022). (See the review here.)
Awards
- Cullen Grant, 2020
- College of Biblical Studies Outstanding Graduate Faculty Award, 2016
- Recipient of the Christian Scholarship Foundation Award, 2012-2014
Memberships
- Society of Biblical Literature
- North American Patristic Society