Samuel B. Johnson, Ph.D.
Dean of the School of Theology
Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies
Education
M.T.S., Ph.D., University of Notre Dame
B.A. Hillsdale College
Research Interests
New Testament, Early Christianity
Profile
Dr. Johnson joined the faculty in 2021 as Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies, and in January 2025 was named the Dean of the School of Theology. He holds both a master of theological studies and a doctor of philosophy degree from the University of Notre Dame. Dr. Johnson received his undergraduate degree from Hillsdale College.
His teaching and research is broadly invested in drawing contemporary New Testament scholarship into dialogue with early Christian reading practices. His latest book (The Life of Jesus in the Writings of Origen of Alexandria) explores the critical reading of the Gospels in early Christianity, and his second book project (The Second Coming: A History) is on the development of New Testament eschatology. He has published on the early Christian reception of the Priestly writings, the relationship between early Christology and the early Jewish wisdom tradition, and the development of Eucharistic praying in late antiquity (appearing in Vigiliae Christianae, Ecclesia Orans, Studia Patristica, and elsewhere).
Dr. Johnson frequently shares his research at national and international conferences and is a member of the Society of Biblical Literature as well as the North American Patristics Society.
Selected Publications
The Life of Jesus in the Writings of Origen of Alexandria. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2025.
“Sharing the Messianic Throne in Early Judaism and the New Testament.” In Antistite nostro: The Episcopal Ministry in the Life of the Local Church, edited by Ryan T. Ruiz and David J. Endres, 118-135. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2024.
“The Protevangelium of James: A Priestly Drama of Divine Indwelling.” Vigiliae Christianae 77.1 (2023): 125.
“‘The Lord Created Me’: Does Christ ‘Preexist’ for Athanasius?” In Studia Patristica Vol. CXXVII Papers Presented at the Eighteenth International Conference on Patristic Studies held in Oxford 2019, ed. Markus Vinzent and Oliver Nicholson, 81-91. Leuven: Peeters, 2021.
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