Dr. Lisa M. Wolfe, professor and endowed chair of Hebrew bible, was awarded the 2018 outstanding faculty award.
Wolfe will also give the graduate commencement speech May 5. She also won the Scholarship of Discovery in 2010.
Wolfe started teaching in 2003 and began teaching at OCU in 2007. She began her teaching at the United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio, after receiving her Ph.D in Religious and Theological Studies from Northwestern University’s joint program with Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. When Wolfe first started her undergraduate studies at University of Colorado in Boulder, she had intentions on being a dentist, she said.
“During that time, I was active in the Wesley Foundation Campus Ministry, and I got interested in related classes, like religion, philosophy and women studies,” Wolfe said. “I ended up majoring in psych, thinking I might go into counseling or something, but by the time I finished college, I was working in a church and they offered me a full-time job before I graduated.”
This led her to take her studies to United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio, she said, where she received her masters in divinity and became interested in the academic side of religion.
“I was sure I was looking at seminary,” Wolfe said. “But, it was during seminary that I became interested in studying the academic side of the Bible and religion.”
Wolfe has worked as children’s hospital chaplain, church camp counselor, job coach, and dental assistant. She also teaches a variety of classes, including Introduction to Bible Literature, Pop Goes the Bible, Women in Hebrew Bible, and Psalms and Wisdom Literature. She said her goal is to make her students think critically.
“I want them to think for themselves and ask questions, whether it’s for the Bible or any religion,” Wolfe said. “I think the greatest challenge and joy for me is getting someone who is not interested in the contents of my class interested.”
For her commencement speech, she said she plans to use a biblical story to reach a mixed audience, and to provide something interesting and relevant to the graduating class and their families.
“I won’t give away too much, but I’m going to do what I do, which is teach Bible,” she said.
Wolfe is also in the process of finishing a book on Ecclesiastes, one of the 24 books from the Hebrew Bible, for the Liturgical Press’ Wisdom Commentary Series, an outside of OCU project. The series offers a feminist interpretation of every book in the Bible. She will also help run the Religion Expo fair.
Wolfe’s students have expressed admiration for her recent accomplishments.
“She is a huge advocate for interfaith work,” said K.C. Curry, religion sophomore. “She is incredibly intelligent, and I see her passion for the Bible every time she speaks about it. As a professor, she knows how to make her classes creative and puts a nerdy twist to it. I appreciate her teaching style and her passion for religion and her students.”
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