Julie Newberry

Dr. Newberry is Assistant Professor of Sacred Scripture at Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology (WI), where she teaches both seminarians and lay students in master's degree programs. She was formerly Assistant Professor of New Testament at Wheaton College in Wheaton, IL (2019-2023), where she taught primarily undergraduates, and she has also taught master's degree courses as an adjunct for Wake Forest School of Divinity (2019) and Duke Divinity School (summer 2023, summer 2024). She completed her doctoral work in Duke University's Graduate Program in Religion in the spring of 2020. Prior studies included an M.Div. from Duke University Divinity School and an M.A. in English from Texas A&M University.  

Dr. Newberry's dissertation, directed by C. Kavin Rowe, focuses on joy and the conditions--circumstances, habits, dispositions, and so forth--that facilitate joy in Luke's Gospel, with a glance at Acts. While the prominence of joy in Luke's Gospel has long been recognized, she furthers our understanding of this motif by examining the relationship between joy-according-to-Luke and other aspects of discipleship. At the same time, her dissertation also contributes to ongoing discussions about the study of "emotions" in the New Testament. A revised version of the dissertation has been published as Lukan Joy and the Life of Discipleship: A Narrative Analysis of the Conditions that Lead to Joy

according to Luke. WUNT 2.583 Tübingen, Mohr Siebeck, 2022.

Dr. Newberry's second book, under contract with Baker Academic, seeks to gain practical theological insights from integrating intertextual (esp. OT/HB in NT) analysis with intersectional analysis of characters' embodied life in communities in New Testament narratives. Anticipating this trajectory, she has already published an article on the allusiveness of Elizabeth's complex characterization in Luke 1, a chapter using intertextual analysis to probe the theological import of Luke’s foregrounding of age categories in the infancy narrative, an article on Paul's engagement with 1 Esdras in his reasoning about head coverings in 1 Corinthians 11:7-12. 

Together, these projects reflect Dr. Newberry's abiding interest in the theological interpretation of Scripture, the study of intertextuality, embodiment in the New Testament, and academically rigorous scholarship that has implications for the life of the church today. 

The same concerns undergird her teaching, which is informed by St. Augustine's insight that faithful biblical interpretation ought to foster the love of God and neighbor. By incorporating diverse perspectives into course materials and by integrating spiritual practices into teaching as appropriate, she seeks to foster students' holistic formation, creating a welcoming classroom environment that allows for charitable-critical dialogue across various kinds of difference. At Sacred Heart, she has taught courses on the Synoptic Gospels and Acts, John and the Catholic Epistles, and Jesus and the New Testament. At Wheaton College, she taught in several modalities (in-person, online, dual modality), with offerings including the undergraduate NT introduction course, Biblical Interpretation and Hermeneutics, and English exegesis courses on Luke, Acts, and 1-2 Corinthians, as well as New Testament Criticism (a survey of the history of modern scholarship for majors and M.A. students). She also taught Wheaton's interdisciplinary First Year Seminar, focusing her section on Joy and the Good Life. Additional teaching experience includes hybrid exegesis courses for Duke Divinity School on Acts and the Gospel and Letters of John, a hybrid course on NT Letters for Wake Forest Divinity School, and teaching assistant work with both undergraduate students and seminarians at Duke. 

Dr. Newberry can be contacted at jnewberry@shsst.edu.