Kara J. Lyons-Pardue, Ph.D.

Professor of New Testament
Full-Time

Dr. Kara Lyons-Pardue has taught New Testament and Greek courses at Point Loma Nazarene University since 2011. Dr. Lyons-Pardue earned her Ph.D. in Biblical Studies from Princeton Theological Seminary and an M.Div. from Nazarene Theological Seminary. Her 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 Philemon in the New Beacon Bible Commentary on Ephesians, Colossians, Philemon. Dr. Lyons-Pardue’s current project is a commentary on Mark’s Gospel. She seeks to foster in students and through writing the curiosity and wonder in reading Christian Scripture, combined with a deep love for God and the church, which motivates her own study, writing, and ministry

Education

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

Courses Taught

  • Christian Scripture, New Testament
  • Biblical Greek
  • Jesus and the Gospels
  • The Letters of Paul
  • Apocalypse, Revelation
  • Women in Scripture

Professional and Community Involvement

  • Minister in the Church of the Nazarene (Ordained 2015; Elder: Educator)
  • Co-Chair, Gospel of Mark Section, SBL (2022 to present); Steering Committee member (2021 to present)
  • Co-Convener, Biblical Studies (NT) Working Group, Oxford Institute of Methodist Theological Studies (2022 to present; Full Member, 2018 to present)
  • Member of the SBL Mark Passion Narrative Seminar (2021 to present)
  • Bulletin for Biblical Research editorial board member (2020 to present)
  • Chair, Biblical Studies Section, Wesleyan Theological Society (2018-2021); Co-chair (2022-2023)
  • Steering Committee, SBL Christian Theology and the Bible Section (2018 to 2022)
  • Steering Committee, SBL Ethics, Love, and the Other in Early Christianity Consultation (2010-2012)

Awards and Honors

  • Sabbatical, Project: , 2025-26 Academic Year, Awarded
  • Various PLNU Alumni Association Grant, RASP Grants, Wesleyan Center Fellowships & Grants: Spring 2025, Summer 2024, Spring 2023, Fall 2022, Spring 2021, Summer 2018, Fall 2017, Summer 2016, Fall 2015, Summer 2013
  • Excellence in Teaching Awards, Point Loma Nazarene University, 2019-20 and 2023-24
  • Sabbatical, Project: Greek translation and research on the Gospel According to Mark – Fall
  • Semester 2018
  • Outstanding Dissertation Award, Wesleyan Theological Society – March 2016
  • Goethe Institut Stipendium (scholarship) – May–June, 2009 (Berlin)

Dissertations, Presentations, and Publications

Books, Authored or Edited: 

  • Mark, Commentaries for Christian Formation (Eerdmans; Under contract).
  • Gospel Women and the Long Ending of Mark, Library of New Testament Studies (T&T Clark, 2020).
  • “Commentary on Philemon” in George Lyons, Robert Smith, and Kara Lyons-Pardue, Ephesians, Colossians, and Philemon: A Commentary in the Wesleyan Tradition, New Beacon Bible Commentary (Kansas City: The Foundry Publishing, 2019).
  • Following Jesus: Prophet, Priest, King. Co-edited with Timothy R. Gaines (Kansas City: The Foundry Publishing, 2018).

Other Publications, Selected

  • Co-authored with Elizabeth E. Shively, “Fear and Grief: Emotions at the Endings(s) of Mark’s Story” in The Cambridge Companion to Biblical Narrative (Ed. Keith Bodner; Cambridge University Press, 2025).
  • “Esther in Dialogue with Mark: Power, Vulnerability, and Kingship” Ch. 13 in Reading Esther Intertextually (Ed. David G. Firth and Brittany N. Melton; Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies; T&T Clark; 2022).
  • “Quick Tip: Bite-Sized Expertise: Bible Dictionary Abstracts and Presentations,” Pages 113-114 in Teaching the Bible with Undergraduates (Ed. Jocelyn McWhirter and Sylvie T. Raquel; Resources for Biblical Study 99; Atlanta: SBL Press, 2022).
  • “The Fruit of the Spirit in Letter and Life,” Holiness Today (Jan/Feb 2022), 10-13).
  • 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).
  • “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).
  • “A Syrophoenician Becomes a Canaanite: Jesus Exegetes the Canaanite Woman in Matthew,” Journal of Theological Interpretation 13:2 (2019): 235-250.

For more publications and presentations, see CV