Carmen Palmer
I received my PhD in Biblical Studies from the University of St. Michael’s College, in Toronto, in 2016. In addition to ongoing teaching and research in the Hebrew Bible and early Christian writings, my area of specialization is the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Prior to teaching at Luther, I instructed Biblical Hebrew at Emmanuel College, in the University of Toronto, for several years. I also teach online in the area of biblical studies for the Saskatoon Theological Union. I have experience serving in various lay ministries in the United Church of Canada and have a passion for assisting those who are training in ministry and pedagogical vocations.
I also have a passion for making biblical scholarship accessible, and am currently a member of the Society of Biblical Literature International Cooperation Initiative Committee.
Visit my personal website.
My research focuses on expressions of identity and conversion as evidenced in the literature of ancient Judaism and Christianity, as well as the Greco-Roman world more broadly. My present project focuses on women and conversion in the Dead Sea Scrolls, building on my first book’s emphasis on male Gentile converts to Judaism within the scrolls. You can read more about my first book here.
Research / Areas of Expertise:
- Hebrew Bible
- New Testament
- Dead Sea Scrolls
- Ancient Judaism
- Conversion and Ethnicity Theory
- Dead Sea Scrolls, Revise and Repeat: New Methods and Perspectives. Edited by Carmen
Palmer, Andrew R. Krause, Eileen Schuller, and John Screnock. EJL 52. Atlanta: SBL Press, 2020. - Palmer, Carmen. Converts in the Dead Sea Scrolls: The Gēr and Mutable Ethnicity. STDJ 126. Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2018.
- “ ‘A Few Good (Adopted) Men’: A Renewed Assessment of the Influences for Paul’s Adoption Metaphor through an Analysis of Women’s Marginal Place in Jewish, Greek, and Roman Adoption Traditions.” Journal of the Jesus Movement in Its Jewish Setting 7 (2020): 1-25. http://www.jjmjs.org
- Palmer, Carmen. “Mirroring the Object of the Lesson: The Creative Process of Scriptural Rewriting as an Effective Practice for Teaching Sacred Texts.” Teaching Theology and Religion 21 (2018): 47-56. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/teth.12419
- Palmer, Carmen. “Gentile.” In vol. 10 of the Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception. Edited by Allison, Dale C. Jr., et al. Projected 30 volumes. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2014.
- Palmer, Carmen. “Foreigner.” In vol. 9 of the Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception. Edited by Allison, Dale C. Jr., et al. Projected 30 volumes. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2014.