Research Profile: Robyn Whitaker
Robyn is Coordinator of Studies – New Testament at Pilgrim Theological College and Associate Professor within the University of Divinity. She specialises in the Book of Revelation with particular attention to the visual culture in which the text emerged and the visual rhetoric of biblical literature. She has published on Revelation, Luke, and Mark’s gospel.
She completed her PhD at the University of Chicago Divinity School. Her thesis on ekphrasis and the persuasive visual rhetorical of Revelation was one of the first in-depth studies on the use of ekphrasis in the New Testament and was subsequently published as Ekphrasis, Vision, and Persuasion in the Book of Revelation in 2015. She continues to work on Revelation exploring the theology, symbolism, and rhetoric of that text for both an ancient and modern audiences as well as the relationship between the Bible and visual culture.
Robyn frequently writes on issues relating to gender, sexuality, politics, and the Bible in popular and mainstream media outlets. You can find some of her articles here.
Contact
Phone: 9340 8891
Research Publications
Robyn’s recent publications include:
- Terror in the Bible: Rhetoric, Gender, and Violence, eds. R. Whitaker & M. Melanchthon (Atlanta, GA: SBL Press, 2021)
- “Invoking Jezebel, Invoking Terror: Exploring the Sexualization of Conflict in the Biblical Tradition” in Terror in the Bible: Rhetoric, Gender, and Violence (Atlanta: SBL Press, 2021)
- “The Tale of Two Feasts: Synkrisis in Matthew 14” Australian Biblical Review 69 (2021): 1-14
- “Victim to Victor: The Appeal of Apocalyptic Hope” Religions 11 (2020): 1-11
- “A Failed Spectacle: The Role of the Crowd in Luke 23,” Biblical Interpretation 25.3 (2017): 399-416
- “From Cross to Ascension: The Surprising Locus of Salvation in Luke-Acts,” Australian Biblical Review 65 (2017): 3043
She is currently working on a book on biblical hermeneutics, under contract with Eerdmans, and is part of ACU’s Flourishing in Early Christianity project.
Supervision
Robyn welcomes the opportunity to work with students interested in the New Testament and particularly projects related to Revelation, Mark, Luke-Acts, or approaches that include feminist hermeneutics or visual exegesis.
