St. Joseph's College at the University of Alberta is excited to welcome Dr. Shawn W. Flynn, Associate Professor of the Hebrew Bible, as Academic Dean. The appointment follows an international search for this key senior administrative role. Originally from Prince George, British Columbia, and having worked in Vancouver, Dublin, Jerusalem, and Toronto, Dr. Flynn has recently served as Director of Theology programs and taught courses in Religion and Theology at St. Mark's College/Corpus Christi College at the University of British Columbia.
Dr. Flynn earned his PhD at the University of Toronto, in Ancient Near Eastern Studies, and specializes in the formation of Israelite beliefs during the Iron Age (1200-586 BCE). He employs a comparative analysis between the Hebrew Bible and its larger cultural matrix, primarily Mesopotamia, to explore emerging and shifting ideas of divinity or ancient children. These are influenced by a variety of interdisciplinary factors like political, religious, economic and military pressures experienced by ancient peoples.
Dr. Flynn's multiple scholarly books include YHWH is King: The Development of Divine Kingship in Ancient Israel. Vetus Testamentum Supplements 159; Leiden: Brill, 2014. This was followed by his second book: Children in Ancient Israel: The Hebrew Bible and Mesopotamia in Comparative Perspective. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018, the cover of which features the work of Aboriginal artist Maxine Noel. A third study is being completed: A Story of YHWH: Cultural Translation and Subversive Reception through Israelite History. Studies in the History of the Ancient Near East; Ed. Greg Fisher; Routledge, 2018. He is also preparing a fourth book, an edited collection for Routledge that gathers international experts on childhood studies, the bible, and historical approaches in ancient contexts. Dr. Flynn supports these studies with published articles in peer-reviewed journals and edited collections including the Catholic Biblical Quarterly, Biblica, Irish Theological Quarterly, New Blackfriars, and Oxford Bibliographies in Biblical Studies, De Gruyter's Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception, and is completing a series of invited articles. In addition, he has published 20 book reviews and over 100 article abstracts.
Dr. Flynn has generated scholarly funding and awards from Ontario Graduate Scholarship, SSHRC, University of Toronto Fellowships, the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Award in Israeli Studies, the Canadian Friends of the École Biblique (Jerusalem), and the Naïm S. Mahlab Award in Jewish Studies. He has also served as a researcher in residence at the École biblique et archéologique française de Jérusalem.
The staff and faculty would like to thank Dr. Denise Young and Dr. Paul Flaman for their service to the College in the role of Interim Dean prior to Dr. Flynn's appointment. Please join us in welcoming Dr. Shawn W. Flynn to the St. Joseph's College and University of Alberta community.
St. Joseph's College is a university community established in 1926 by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Edmonton and affiliated with the University of Alberta. Administered by the Congregation of the Priests of St. Basil (the Basilian Fathers), the College is committed to engaging with and promoting the Church's traditional openness to exploring the unity of Faith and Reason. It also operates two residences that house 350 University of Alberta students of all faiths and backgrounds. The College strives to help students live balanced and successful lives by promoting the development of the spiritual, intellectual, social, physical, and emotional dimensions of human thriving. St. Joseph's College has nine tenured/tenure-track faculty engaged in world-leading research and teaching excellence in addition to a skilled group of professionals teaching contractually for the College. This year, University of Alberta students occupy over 2200 seats in various courses offered by the College for credit toward a broad range of the University's degree programs.
For more information, please contact:
Kevin Tam
St. Joseph's College, University of Alberta
780.492.9143
kevin.tam@ualberta.ca