Located in the town of Oxford, Georgia, only a forty-five-minute drive from Emory's Atlanta campus, Oxford College is an integral part of a world-renowned research university. As the birthplace of Emory University, it consists of a community of learners dedicated to an outstanding liberal arts intensive education for undergraduates in their first two years.

Dr. David B. Gowler came to Oxford College in fall 2000 as the Pierce Professor of Religion, one of the distinguished chairs of Emory University, because he was attracted to Oxford College's Liberal Arts Intensive environment. But Oxford College also has all the resources that Gowler needs for his research, which has earned high praise among reviewers.

His 1991 book, Host, Guest, Enemy, and Friend: Portraits of the Pharisees in Luke and Acts was described as a "landmark study" and an "outstanding achievement in the field of New Testament studies." Other reviewers declared that "[Gowler's] work promises to open new horizons in biblical interpretation," "breaks fresh methodological ground," and involved "significant advances" that made other works appear "naïve in comparison."

Gowler was one of the first biblical scholars to merge successfully narrative modes of analysis of texts with social and cultural modes of analysis. A number of scholars have built on the interdisciplinary approach that he introduced in his first book and earliest articles.

His next book, What Are They Saying About the Parables (Paulist Press, 2000), was hailed as a "masterpiece . . . with regard to its scholarship and to its depth of insight," as well as a "gem" and "a model of clarity of thought and precision of analysis." This book on Jesus' parables is used in college and graduate school classrooms around the world. His interdisciplinary approach was especially helpful as he explored the parables of Jesus within Jewish, Hellenistic-Roman, literary, and social and cultural contexts.

Gowler recently completed What Are They Saying About the Historical Jesus? (Paulist Press, 2007). A research trip to Israel for the book reinforced Gowler's view that the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth reflect a first-century peasant artisan's economic, social, and religious environment. Gowler explains: "Jesus was one of those poor in the countryside, from a small village a few miles from Sepphoris. On the one hand, the historical Jesus condemned the exploitative, dominant class of his day, and on the other he provided hope to his fellow suffering peasants that God was on their side."

Gowler takes the approach that biblical studies should encourage more open discussion and present different perspectives. He believes interpreters of biblical texts have an ethical responsibility to the texts, students, colleagues, and society. Doing so means allowing diverse voices, including "the voices of the silenced," to speak and be heard.

As the Pierce Professor of Religion, Gowler is able to combine instrumental and transformational education. For his first five years, he directed the Pierce Program in Religion, which expanded college programs into the local community through public lectures on campus and off-campus courses in the local community.

In 2005, Gowler constructed a new initiative that would have a deeper, college-wide impact: the Pierce Institute for Leadership and Community Engagement. This Institute supports, implements, and/or coordinates various initiatives and programs that provide opportunities for students to assume roles of leadership and service at Oxford College and in the community by integrating academic study, leadership development, and community engagement.

FYI

Dr. Gowler's current book project is James Through the Centuries, to be published by Blackwell Press. Since joining the faculty at Oxford College, he has received a "Best Teaching Idea Award" from Emory University, the University Advisory Council on Teaching Consultation Award, and the Phi Theta Kappa Teaching Award for 2003.