Biography

I grew up in the small, East Tennessee town of Oliver Springs (just outside of Knoxville). Out of high school, I had aspirations of eventually entering into some type of Christian ministry, but once I was exposed to the academic study of religion, I knew that I wanted to teach. After moving around to various places for my bachelor’s (Chattanooga) and master’s (Dallas) degrees, I chose to undertake Ph.D. studies (New Testament and Early Christian Origins) at the University of Exeter, which is one of the top schools in the UK. My time there was made possible by a full scholarship and generous stipend from the university. When I moved back from England, I began adjunct work with Tusculum in 2010 and was brought on full-time the next year. (more…)