rmattison

Education: BA, University of Delaware, 1969; MDiv, University of Chicago, 1973; PhD, Vanderbilt University, 1995; Pastorate in Pennsylvania, Campus Pastorate in Wisconsin

Dr. Robin Mattison likes teaching the New Testament and feminist hermeneutics from the perspective of literary and anthropological criticism. Her research interests are in exploring symbol systems in Scripture. A recent focus has been on how themes and images are developed by an author to change a reader’s point of view. Her dissertation, "To Beget or Not to Beget: Presupposition and Persuasion in Matthew Chapter One" (UMI Microfilm Number 9611808) employs the theme of fathering and the image of father, both divine and human, as an example of that author’s strategy. Such research informs the church’s dialog on the history behind and centrality of calling on God as "Father."

Dr. Mattison entered Seminary at a time when women were not being ordained in many denominations. Such timing has shaped her teaching and research interests. She cares deeply that women students and students of color are prepared by the New Testament’s own examples to face the specific challenges of their ministry: from uncertain reception to unbounded expectations. Her teaching encourages all students to develop a well-informed perspective on the challenges of the New Testament’s origin in a less-than-inclusive world and disciplined interpretive skills so that, with prayer, praise and proclamation, graduates might aid other believers to free their life in Christ from the constraints of exclusion.