Convinced, with St. Augustine, that faithful biblical interpretation nurtures the love of God and neighbor (On Christian Teaching), I view a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion as core to my vocation as a scholar-teacher of New Testament. Shaped by the generous self-giving of God to us in Christ, love of neighbors must extend to “others” who are different from ourselves in ecclesial location, theology, nationality, race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, abilities, age, socioeconomic status, and more. Accordingly, I advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in practical ways in my teaching, research, and service, even as I continue the lifelong task of deepening my own understanding of how to foster belonging in the classroom (and beyond).
In the classroom, I seek to develop my pedagogy toward what Willie James Jennings calls “a theology of joining.” The classroom community is an opportunity for fostering real, if relatively brief, belonging among people who might otherwise never study the Bible together. Moreover, readings, viewings, and lectures can introduce still further voices—past and present—into the conversation. Recognizing that DEI remains a pressing concern not only in the academy but also in the faith communities in which many students participate and which some will go on to serve, I seek to model and inculcate faithful responses to diversity through readings, classroom dynamics, and assignments.
My commitment to inclusive readings is evident in my revision of Wheaton College’s NT Criticism class. The syllabus I inherited included few if any women and people of color. By contrast, a student commented of my most recent iteration of the course: “Dr. Newberry introduced us to so many minority/majority world perspectives and required us to engage them in our assignments” (2019). I also help students think through why such representation matters. For example, in an undergraduate hermeneutics course, we devote a unit to thinking about social location and its effects on interpretation. Such topics excite some and worry others; I strive to foster the mutual trust and respect needed for fruitful conversation across those differences. As one student observed, “Dr. Newberry was able to facilitate conversations every day in class largely because we trusted her and felt safe enough to share our thoughts even if they were not fully developed” (2021).
Such an approach also matters for inclusion along lines of neurodiversity and personality differences. A student from the same class commented, “I usually am more reserved in class and tend to not share all of my thoughts. Dr. Newberry facilitated class in such a way that we all were able to honestly and freely share our opinions on what we were learning about” (2021). To help students gain confidence in speaking up, I try to establish clear ground rules for appropriate participation early in the course, assuring them that I recognize that “good” participation takes various shapes for diverse students and reminding them that their goal should be to engage in, not to dominate, the discussion. I also communicate that their experiential knowledge counts in our community of learning. For example, I frame our task in hermeneutics as one of making explicit, analyzing, evaluating, and (as needed) revising hermeneutical commitments that students already—even if only tacitly—hold. When teaching seminarians, I encourage them to draw on past and current pastoral experiences as they engage in class discussions. With respect to assignments, I often include a project that allows students to depart from the conventional academic essay, responding to a passage in any genre/medium. By inviting students to draw on their cultural repertoires, areas of expertise, hobbies, and even struggles, this assignment fosters an integrative classroom experience to which they can bring their whole selves, including their diverse particularities.
Particularly when teaching undergraduates at Wheaton College, I reflected at length on how concern for diversity, equity, and inclusion relates to the liberal arts. Historically, the “liberal arts” have not always been conceived of in ways shaped by a robust commitment to DEI. However, as suggested by the assignment described above, this need not be so. An African American student performing a spoken word poem, a native Hawaiian student choreographing a hula dance, or a white Protestant student writing a hymn in response to a passage—all of these students embody the liberal arts model in a way honors cultural and other sorts of diversity. I do the same in lecture and discussion. For example, I often pair a Gospel of John with a viewing of the John-inspired song, “I Am For You,” written and performed by Sloan Meeks, who lives with cerebral palsy and other health challenges, and his collaborator, Lee Anderson. I ask students which “I am” sayings they notice in the song, and I invite them to ponder the implications of this musical reception of John. This activity sometimes leads to conversations regarding how we think about the Gospels’ healing narratives, especially in light of the experiences of differently abled people who do not receive physical healing—or who do not see “healing” as an appropriate framing of their needs. Integrating music into the classroom thus also invites reflection on questions raised by disability studies.
Other lectures draw on different media and contemporary issues. As a prelude to covering Matthew’s Gospel, for instance, I have had students read Malcom Guite’s poem “Refugee.” We reflected on how Guite links contemporary refugee crises to Jesus’ experience of being a refugee, even as Matthew’s portrayal of Jesus’ vulnerability evokes the life of Moses. The poem thus provided an avenue to begin discussing how Matthew tells the story of Jesus in a way that looks back to God’s faithfulness to Israel, as well as forward to the life of the church. At the same time, the poem’s focus on refugees creates space for reflecting on how Jesus’ experience of displacement—like his identification with marginalized people (Matthew 25:31–46)—puts a particular onus on Christians to care about displaced people in our own day.
As these examples illustrate, my efforts toward DEI in the classroom serve not only to foster a welcoming learning environment but also to encourage students to read the New Testament with an eye to how it matters for contemporary life, not least in areas of social justice. A student from a course on Acts reflected that I “repeatedly made efforts to relate Acts to our society, particularly regarding economics and ethnic/racial/gender diversity” (spring 2021). Commenting on the diversity of voices in assigned readings, a student in another course underscored that these “[a]ll relate to the information covered in class in a way that expands the NT and applies it to the current world” (2022). Of my introductory NT course, one student remarked, “Dr. Newberry … discussed reception history that has harmed people, such as the use of Philemon to justify slavery or certain passages to oppress Jews, in a sensitive way that directed us to focus on interpreting Scripture faithfully” (spring 2021). Indeed, my aim in drawing such connections between courses and our broader cultures is to foster awareness of DEI in ways that will impact not only how students read the Bible but also how they live their lives in the church and world.
It was in fact a student's question about such matters that inspired my second book project, with which I hope to integrate DEI concerns more fully into my scholarly work. The student asked how (if at all) intertextual analysis of HB/OT in NT letters matters for oppressed people. I sought counsel from more experienced scholar-teachers, but by and large, they agreed with my student’s implicit critique. However, based in part on past work on age and intertextuality in the Lukan infancy narrative, I suspected that there might be untapped potential here for advancing the church’s engagement with justice issues. My current book project tests this thesis, examining the practical theological results of combining intertextual (esp. HB/OT in NT) and intersectional analysis, with a focus on issues such as age, gender, parental status, ethnic-religious identity, and ability. By drawing on selected recent and ancient reception history, I aim also to show how this integrative approach provides more scripturally rooted and pastorally rich interpretations than might be arrived at using either intertextual or intersectional analysis alone.
Consistent with my teaching and research trajectories, my institutional service also demonstrates commitment to DEI. For example, in spring 2022, I spoke on a panel as part of a student-organized conference about women in theological disciplines. I also actively encourage my students to attend DEI-related events on campus. In addition to seeking to educate myself about DEI, whether through campus events or through other resources, I pursue growth in this area by maintaining a teachable posture in the classroom. Consistent with my Augustinian understanding of the telos of biblical studies, I hope always to be growing in my ability to foster classrooms marked by the respectful if challenging pursuit of truth in love.