Richter to be Installed as Endowed Chair

Sandra Richter, who began teaching at Westmont in the fall, will be formally installed as the Robert H. Gundry Professor of Biblical Studies at Westmont on Monday, April 16, during a full-regalia ceremony at 10:30 am in Murchison Gym. 

Richter, who has taught Old Testament at Asbury Theological and Wesley Biblical seminaries as well as at Wheaton College, will lecture about “The Servant, the Idol, and the Image of God: Isaiah’s Conversation with Creation” at 3:30 pm in the Global Leadership Center. A panel discussion will follow the talk with responses by Holly Beers, Westmont assistant professor of religious studies; Steven Tsoukalas, chair and professor of apologetics and world religions at Emmaus Biblical Seminary; Tim Laniak, dean and professor of Old Testament at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Charlotte; and moderated by Tremper Longman III, distinguished scholar of biblical studies at Westmont. The installation and lecture are free and open to the public.

Richter graduated from Valley Forge University, earned a Master of Arts in theology from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and a doctorate from the department of near eastern languages and civilizations in Hebrew Bible at Harvard University. Her research focuses on Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomistic history, Isaiah, the integration of Syro-Palestinian archeology, and the Bible. She is broadly known in the academy for her groundbreaking work in The Deuteronomistic History and the Name Theology and among laity for her celebrated book, The Epic of Eden: A Christian Entry into the Old Testament. She has recently released an article on “The Question of Provenance and the Economics of Deuteronomy” with the Journal for the Study of the Old Testament and is currently working on a commentary on Deuteronomy for the Two Horizons series with Eerdmans Publishers, “The Fifth Gospel: A Christian Entry into the Book of Isaiah”, plus a biblical theology on “Environmentalism and the Evangelical”. She remains deeply invested in the well-being of the church and regularly authors lay curriculums with Seedbed Publishers.

Beers, who has been teaching at Westmont since 2012, specializes in Luke-Acts, the use of the Old Testament in the New Testament, philosophical hermeneutics, and second temple Judaism.

Longman taught at Westmont for 19 years as the first Gundry professor in Biblical Studies. He has authored or co-authored more than 30 books about the Psalms and other Old Testament books.

Laniak earned a Doctor of Theology from Harvard Divinity School, studied in the Middle East, and worked as a missionary in Europe and Asia before taking his current post at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Tsoukalas is the author of 12 books and a number of articles. His expertise is in Hindu Studies, non-Christian and pseudo-Christian religions, and Christian theology. He currently teaches at Emmaus Biblical Seminary in Haiti, and has taught at Wesley Biblical Seminary and Wheaton College.

Maxie Dunnam, president emeritus of Asbury Theological Seminary and a famed speaker and author within the Wesleyan tradition, will attend Richter’s installation ceremony.