Kelly Iverson, Ph.D.
Professor of New Testament
Education
Ph.D., The Catholic University of America, 2006.
Th.M., Dallas Theological Seminary, 2001.
Bachelor of Science, Iowa State University, 1994.
Area of Specialization
New Testament Gospels (Mark and Matthew), orality, performance, and narrative criticism.
Biography
A native of Des Moines, Iowa, Dr. Iverson joined the faculty of Baylor University in 2012 having previously taught at the University of St. Andrews (2007-2012). His research focuses on the dynamics of biblical interpretation, in particular how the oral cultures that produced the Jesus tradition impacted the transmission and reception of the gospels. He and his wife, Kim, have three children.
Books published
1st and 2nd Thessalonians: A Handbook on the Greek Text (Baylor Handbook on the Greek New Testament; Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, forthcoming).
Reading Mark (Cascade Companions; Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2023).
Performing Early Christian Literature: Audience Experience and Interpretation of the Gospels (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021).
Text to Performance: Narrative and Performance Criticisms in Dialogue and Debate (ed. Kelly R. Iverson; Biblical Performance Criticism; Eugene, Ore.: Cascade, 2014).
Unity and Diversity in the Gospels and Paul: Essays in Honor of Frank J. Matera, Christopher W. Skinner and Kelly R. Iverson (eds.), Early Christianity and Its Literature 7, Atlanta: SBL/Brill, 2012.
Mark as Story: Retrospect and Prospect, Kelly R. Iverson and Christopher W. Skinner (eds.), Resources for Biblical Study 65, Atlanta: SBL/Brill, 2011.
Gentiles in the Gospel of Mark: "Even the Dogs Under the Table Eat the Children's Crumbs," Library of New Testament Studies 339, London: T&T Clark, 2007.
Selected Articles and Essays
“A Postmodern Riddle? Gaps, Inferences, and Mark’s Abrupt Ending,” Journal for the Study of the New Testament 44.3 (2022): 337–67.
“Mark 7:1-37,” in Reading Mark in Context (ed. Ben C. Blackwell, John K. Goodrich, and Jason Maston; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2018), 116-22.
“‘Who do you say that I am?’ Characters and Characterization in Narrative and Performance,” in Let the Reader Understand: Essays in Honor of Elizabeth Struthers Malbon (ed. Edwin K. Broadhead; Library of New Testament Studies 384; London: T&T Clark, 2018), 51-67.
“Oral Fixation or Oral Corrective? A Response to Larry Hurtado,” New Testament Studies 62.2 (2016): 183-200.
“Mark 8:22-26: The Healing of the Blind Man,” Bible Odyssey (Society of Biblical Literature, 2014) https://www.bibleodyssey.com.
“The Present Tense of Performance: Immediacy and Transformative Power in Luke’s Passion,” in From Text to Performance: Narrative and Performance Criticisms in Dialogue and Debate (ed. Kelly R. Iverson; Biblical Performance Criticism; Eugene, Ore.: Cascade, 2014), 131-57.
“Performance Criticism,” in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Biblical Interpretation (ed. Steven McKenzie; 2 vols.; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), 2.97-105.
“Gentiles,” in Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels, 2nd ed. (ed. Joel B. Green, Jeannine K. Brown, and Nicholas Perrin; Downers Grove: IVP, 2013), 302-309.
"Incongruity, Humor, and Mark: Performance and the Use of Laughter in the Second Gospel (Mark 8.14-21)," New Testament Studies, forthcoming.
"Performance Criticism," in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Biblical Interpretation (ed. Steven McKenzie; Oxford: Oxford University Press, forthcoming).
"Gentiles," in Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels, 2nd ed. (ed. Joel B. Green, Jeannine K. Brown, and Nicholas Perrin; Downers Grove: IVP, forthcoming).
"Jews, Gentiles, and the Kingdom of God: The Parable of the Wicked Tenants in Narrative Perspective (Mark 12:1-12)," Biblical Interpretation 20 (2012): 305-35.
"An Enemy of the Gospel? Anti-Paulinisms and Intertextuality in the Gospel of Matthew," in Unity and Diversity in the Gospels and Paul: Essays in Honor of Frank J. Matera (ed. Christopher W. Skinner and Kelly R. Iverson; Early Christianity and Its Literature; SBL/Brill, 2012).
"A Centurion's ‘Confession': A Performance-Critical Analysis of Mark 15:39," Journal of Biblical Literature 130.2 (2011): 329-50.
"‘Wherever the Gospel is Preached': The Paradox of Secrecy in the Gospel of Mark," in Mark as Story: Retrospect and Prospect (ed. Kelly R. Iverson and Christopher W. Skinner; Resources for Biblical Study 65; Atlanta: SBL/Brill, 2011), 181-210.
"St. Mark," in Encyclopedia of Christian Literature (ed. G. T. Kurian and J. D. Smith III; Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 2010), 2.444-45.
Selected Presentations
“The Present Tense of Performance: Immediacy and Transformative Power in Luke’s Passion,” Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting (Performance Criticism of Biblical and Other Ancient Texts Consultation), Baltimore, November, 2013.
Panelist. Review of Camille Focant’s L'évangile selon Marc (Paris: Cerf, 2004). Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting (Biblical Criticism and Literary Criticism), Chicago, November, 2012.
Panelist. Review of Mark as Story: Retrospect and Prospect. Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting (Mark Group), San Francisco, November, 2011.
Courses Taught at Baylor
- The Christian Scriptures
- Gospel of Mark
- Jesus and the Gospels
- New Testament Christology
- Interpreting the New Testament
- Seminar in the Synoptic Gospels
- Seminar in the Catholic Epistles
- New Testament Greek