Kara J. Lyons-Pardue, Ph.D.

Professor of New Testament
Full-Time
Co-Director of the Margaret Stevenson Center for Women's Studies

Dr. Kara Lyons-Pardue fulfills her calling to ministry through education with joy. She has taught New Testament and Greek courses at Point Loma Nazarene University since 2011. Research interests in the Gospels, particularly Mark, and women in Scripture combined in her 2020 book Gospel Women and the Long Ending of Mark (T&T Clark). She contributed the commentary on often-overlooked letter from Paul to Philemon in the New Beacon Bible Commentary on Ephesians, Colossians, Philemon. Dr. Lyons-Pardue earned her Ph.D. in Biblical Studies from Princeton Theological Seminary and an M.Div. from Nazarene Theological Seminary. Ongoing curiosity and wonder in reading Christian Scripture, a deep love for God's church, and a commitment to scholarly integrity characterize in her writing, teaching, preaching, and speaking. 

Education

  • Ph.D., 2015, Princeton Theological Seminary (Princeton, NJ)
  • M.Div., 2005, Nazarene Theological Seminary (Kansas City, MO)
  • B.A., 2002, Northwest Nazarene University (Nampa, ID)

Courses Taught

  • New Testament History and Religion 
  • Biblical Greek I & II
  • Jesus and the Gospels 
  • The Letters of Paul
  • New Testament Books and Early Churches 
  • Christian Scripture 

SCHOLARLY LANGUAGES: German, French, Greek, Latin, Hebrew

Professional and Community Involvement

  • The Church of the Nazarene, ordained Elder, June 1, 2015
  • Steering Committee member, Christian Theology and the Bible Section, Society of Biblical Literature  (2018 to present)
  • Seminar member, Mark’s Passion Narrative, Society of Biblical Literature  (Fall 2020 to present)
  • Steering Committee member, Mark’s Gospel Section, Society of Biblical Literature (2021 to present)
  • Bulletin for Biblical Research board member (2020)
  • Biblical Studies Section chair, Wesleyan Theological Society (2018 to present) 

Awards and Honors

  • Various Wesleyan Center Summer Scholar, RASP, and Point Loma Alumni Association Grants (Spring 2021, Fall 2018, Summer 2018, December 2016, Summer 2016, Fall 2015, May 2013)
  • Sabbatical, Project: Greek translation, research, and early drafts for a theological commentary on the Gospel According to Mark – Fall Semester 2018
  • Outstanding Dissertation Award, Wesleyan Theological Society – March 2016
  • Goethe Institut Stipendium – May-June, 2009 (Berlin)

Dissertations, Presentations, and Publications

  • Invited eTalk for the Mark 16 Digital Humanities project from the Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (Lausanne), an audio, visual, and text lecture on Gospel Women and the Long Ending of Mark https://mark16-etalk.sib.swiss/index.php?dir=KaraLyonsPardue#0 (Sept. 2020).
  • “‘Little Daughters’ and Big Textual Allusions: Reading Three of Mark’s Stories Featuring Women with Care” in Listening Again to the Text: New Testament Studies in Honor of George Lyons (Claremont Studies in New Testament and Christian Origins; Claremont Press, 2020).
  • Gospel Women and the Long Ending of Mark in the Library of New Testament Studies (T&T Clark, 2020).
  • “Two Mary Magdalenes: Eusebius of Caesarea and the Questionable Reliability of the Gospels' Female Witnesses,” Ch. 6 in Rediscovering the Marys: Maria, Mariamne, Miriam (Ed. Mary Ann Beavis and Ally Kateusz; Library of New Testament Studies, Scriptural Traces; T&T Clark; 2020).
  • “Jesus and the Law,” Global Wesleyan Dictionary of Biblical Theology (Ed. Robert Branson; Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City, 2020).
  • “The Kingdom of God is Like …” for Illustrated Bible Life curriculum (WordAction; Kansas City: The Foundry Publishing), Winter Quarter 2020.
  • “A Syrophoenician Becomes a Canaanite: Jesus Exegetes the Canaanite Woman in Matthew,” Journal of Theological Interpretation 13:2 (2019): 235-250.
  • “Commentary on Philemon” in Ephesians, Colossians, and Philemon: A Commentary in the Wesleyan Tradition, New Beacon Bible Commentary (Kansas City: The Foundry Publishing, 2019).
  • Edmund Janzen Lectureship in Biblical Studies at Fresno Pacific University – March 28-29, 2019 (Fresno, CA). Academic Lecture title: “‘Little Daughters’ and Big Scriptural Allusions: Reading Three of Mark’s Stories Featuring Women with Care." 
  • “One Jesus Painted by Four Artists,” Holiness Today magazine (Jul/Aug 2018), 18-20.

For more publications and presentations, see CV

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