Tucker Ferda Named Assistant Professor of New Testament
By action of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary’s Board of Directors, Dr. Tucker Ferda has been named assistant professor of New Testament. Since 2017 he has served as visiting assistant professor and from 2013-2016 as instructor.
Dr. Ferda received his bachelor’s from Bethel University (St. Paul, Minn.) with a double major in history and biblical/theological studies and his master’s from Duke University (where he received the Award for Excellence in Bible). He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh under the direction of Dale C. Allison Jr., where he also served as a teaching fellow. In 2015, he was named a Regional Scholar of the Society of Biblical Literature, an award that “recognizes and promotes outstanding entry-level scholars.”
Dr. Ferda holds expertise in a wide range of areas in the field of biblical studies, including the Gospels, life of Jesus, Old Testament in the New, history of biblical interpretation, Hellenistic Jewish literature, Dead Sea Scrolls, and the theological interpretation of Scripture.
“I love teaching biblical studies because I get to share my passion for these endlessly fascinating texts that are theologically formative as well as historically interesting,” he notes.
His classes aim to expose students to the breadth and richness of New Testament scholarship, while also “preparing them for how they will encounter the Bible in their individual contexts.”
In addition to being a frequent presenter at regional and national SBL meetings, Dr. Ferda’s professional service includes chairing the New Testament section for the Eastern Great Lakes Bible Society and serving on the editorial board for the Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus. His first book, Jesus, the Gospels, and the Galilean Crisis (Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2019), was published in the prestigious Library of New Testament Studies series, and he has published more than one dozen articles in top-tier, peer-reviewed biblical studies journals, including Journal of Biblical Literature, Journal of Theological Studies, New Testament Studies, and Journal for the Study of Judaism, among others.
Dr. Ferda is intent on finding ways to bridge the academic study of the Bible with everyday devotional and practical aspects of reading and teaching Scripture. He is a member and deacon at Pittsburgh’s East Liberty Presbyterian Church and he frequently leads studies and provides pulpit supply in area churches.
Pittsburgh Seminary president Dr. David Esterline says, “The entire Seminary community, from Board members to the faculty to students, enthusiastically supports Dr. Ferda’s appointment to this tenure-track position in New Testament. As a true scholar-teacher-mentor, he gives his readers, his students, and his fellow parishioners strategies both for thinking critically about the Bible and for implementing academic learning in the circumstances and situations encountered in daily life. I heartily welcome his continued service in the ministry and mission of Pittsburgh Seminary.”