Shelly Matthews Dorothy and B.H. Peace Professor of Religion at Furman University, Greenville, South Carolina

Shelly Matthews is Dorothy and B.H. Peace Professor of Religion at Furman University. She is the author of First Converts (2001) and the co-editor with E.Leigh Gibson of Violence in the New Testament (2004). She is currently working on a manuscript on violence in the book of Acts, tentatively titled Perfect Martyr: The Stoning of Stephen and the Making of Gentile Christianity in Acts. The co-chair of the Society of Biblical Literature Program Unit on Violence and Representations of Violence among Jews and Christians in Antiquity, Matthews also chairs the New Testament Section for the Southeast Regional Conference on the Study of Religion.  

Academic Credentials

• Th.D., Harvard Divinity School
• M.Div., Boston University School of Theology
• B.A. University of North Dakota

Academic Appointments

• Associate Professor of Religion, Furman University, 2004–
• Assistant Professor of Religion, Furman University, 1998–2004
• Lecturer in Religious Studies, Tufts University, 1997–1998
• Lecturer in Religious Studies, University of North Dakota, 1996, 1987–1990
• Graduate Teaching Fellow, Harvard Divinity School, 1991–1992

Books

• First Converts: Rich Pagan Women and the Rhetoric of Mission in Early Judaism and Christianity , 2001.

Grants, Awards & Honors

• Post-doctoral fellowship from the American Academy of University Women, 2004–2005
• Research fellow at the Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research, St. John’s University, Collegeville, Minnesota, 2004–2005
• New Scholars Award from the Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion for article entitled "Thinking of Thecla: Issues in Feminist Historiography,” 2001
• Dean's Dissertation Fellowship, Harvard Divinity School, 1996–1997
• Dempster Fellowship, United Methodist Church 1995; 1992–1993
• Wesley Merit Scholar, Boston University School of Theology, 1984–1985; 1985–1986; 1986–1987
• Phi Beta Kappa, 1984

Professional Memberships

• Fellow, Jesus Seminar, 2006–
• Joint Member of the Society of Biblical Literature and the American Academy of Religion, 1992–
• North American Patristics Society, 2004–
• Ordained Elder in the United Methodist Church, Dakotas Area Conference, 1987–