Raj Nadella

Raj Nadella is an Indian-American New Testament scholar whose work extends into ecclesial and public settings. He serves as the Samuel A. Cartledge Associate Professor of New Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary. His research and teaching interests include postcolonial readings of the New Testament, migration, and biblical perspectives on economic justice and their ethical implications for the Church and society. In addition, his research has focused on Bakhtin and Biblical Studies.

Education[]

Nadella earned a Bachelor of Theology from Serampore College, India in 1992. He continued his education at United Theological College India, where he received Bachelor of Divinity in 1995, equivalent to a Master of Divinity in the United States.^{[citation needed]} He came to the United States and earned Master of Arts in Biblical Languages at Graduate Theological Union Berkeley, CA in 2000. He earned his Doctor of Philosophy in New Testament Studies from Union Theological Seminary in Virginia in 2010.^[1]

Professional career[]

Nadella has served as a Visiting Instructor at the College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, VA from 2004-2007. He also served as Sabbatical replacement at Seabury-Western Theological Seminary Evanston, IL and as Visiting Instructor at Adrian College in Adrian, MI from Fall 2008 to Spring 2011. He was an Adjunct Instructor at McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago, IL from 2011 to 2012. In 2012, he moved to Decatur, Georgia where he was appointed as Assistant Professor of New Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary. He later became an Associate Professor, then in 2019 was named the Samuel A. Cartledge Associate Professor of New Testament.^[2]

Nadella also initiated and co-led two signature conferences at Columbia Seminary: Bible, Empire, and Reception History^[3] in 2015, and Migrations and Border Crossings^[4][5][6][7] in 2019. Bible, Empire, and Reception History brought together scholars from several continents ahead of the Annual Conference of the American Academy of Religion (AAR) and the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL). Migration and Border Crossings likewise brought together scholars from several continents in partnership with the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University featuring keynote speakers Juan Felipe Herrera and Emilie Townes.

His work has appeared in publications such as The Huffington Post,^[8] Christian Century,^[9] and Working Preacher.^[10] Since 2018, he has served as an area editor for Oxford Bibliographies: Biblical Studies.^[11] Nadella was one of two biblical scholars who led the PC(USA) General Assembly Bible Study in 2018.^[12][13] In 2020, Patheos featured him as one of 50 NT scholars to follow.^[14]

Writings[]

In addition to his teaching professional career, Nadella has also written an extensive list of books, scholarly articles and essays:

• Dialogue Not Dogma: Many Voices in the Gospel of Luke. Continuum/T&T Clark, 2011; paperback, 2012.^[15]
• Postcolonialism and the Bible, co-authored with Steed Davidson. The book delineates the origins, history, and new directions in postcolonial biblical studies. T&T Clark, forthcoming, 2021.^[16]
• Christianity and the Law of Migration, co-edited with Silas Allard and Kristin Heyer. Routledge, forthcoming in 2021.

Articles and essays[]

• “The Origins and Development of Postcolonial Biblical Criticism and Its Current Status” in Oxford Handbook of Postcolonial Biblical Criticism, ed. R.S. Sugirtharajah. Oxford University Press (forthcoming 2020).
• “Migration in the New Testament,” in Christianity and the Law of Migration: An Introduction, eds., Silas Allard, Kristin Heyer, Raj Nadella, forthcoming 2021.
• “Consolidation and Complicity: A Political-Economic Reading of Revelation 18,” in Semeia Studies, forthcoming in 2019.
• “Privilege and Solidarity in Asian American Context” in Asian American Handbook on Biblical Hermeneutics, eds., Seung Ai and Uriah Kim. T & T Clark/Bloomsbury, April 2019.
• “Gemma Augustea, Imperial Paradox, and the Matthean Resistance” in Scripture and Resistance, ed., Jione Havea, Fortress/Lexington Books, November 2018.
• “Pentecost as a Challenge to the Roman Empire’s Values and Ethos,” lead essay for a series on Acts in Journal for Preachers, March 2018.
• Three Exegetical Essays on Matthew. Connections: A Lectionary Commentary project. Westminster John Knox, 2018.
• “The Two Banquets: Mark’s Vision of Anti-Imperial Economics,” in Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology, April 2016.
• “The Motif of Hybridity in the Story of the Canaanite Woman and Its Relevance for Multi-faith Relations” in Many Yet One? Multiple Religious Belonging, published by the World Council of Churches, 2015.
• “Writing Personally,” in Writing Theologically. Edited by Eric Barreto. Fortress Press, 2015.
• “The Ambivalent Pilate: Reverse Mimicry in Matthew’s Gospel,” in Bangalore Theological Forum, June 2014.
• Three Exegetical Articles on Luke in Feasting on the Gospels, Westminster John Knox, 2013
• A Response Essay to Wes Avram’s Lead Essay “Faith and Facebook” on @This Point, June 2013.
• “Postcolonialism, Colonial Mimicry and Translation,” Semeia Studies, edited by Roland Boer and Scott Elliott. 2012.
• “Ephesians,” in DeYoung and Yamada (eds.), The People’s Bible, Fortress Press, 2008.
• “Wicked or Foolish? A Postcolonial Reading of the Parable of Tenants” in Indian Journal of Theology, September 2007.
• Book review of Jesus and Gospel by Graham N. Stanton (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004) in Interpretation, July 2006.
• Book review of Origins of Christmas by Joseph F. Kelly (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 2004) in Review of Biblical Literature, April 2005.

References[]