Johnathan Harris
Visiting Assistant Professor
Howard College of Arts and Sciences
Biblical and Religious Studies
jharris2@samford.edu

Johnathan Harris joined Samford’s faculty in the fall of 2023. He received a BA from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and an MDiv from Beeson Divinity School. In 2021, he completed his PhD in Biblical and Theological Studies at Wheaton College. His book, Christ-faith and Abraham in Galatians 3–4: Paul’s Tale of Two Siblings, has been published in Brill’s Biblical Interpretation Series (Leiden: Brill, 2023). In addition, he helped edit A Scripture Index to Rabbinic Literature (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Academic, 2021) and has published in the Bulletin for Biblical Research (2021). At Samford, Harris teaches Biblical Foundations, and his research interests include New Testament (especially Pauline) theology and theological interpretation of Scripture. 

Harris and his wife, Rachel, have two boys: Cohen and Shepherd. In addition to his teaching and research, he enjoys training and teaching Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, hiking and the outdoors, reading widely in the Western philosophical tradition, and sharing a good conversation (usually about Jesus, jiu-jitsu, or theology/philosophy) over a cup of hot tea. 

Degrees  and Certifications

  • BA, University of Alabama at Birmingham 
  • MDiv, Beeson Divinity School 
  • PhD, Wheaton College 

Publications 

  • Christ-Faith and Abraham in Galatians 3–4: Paul’s Tale of Two Siblings. Biblical Interpretation Series. Leiden: Brill, 2023. 
  • A Scripture Index to Rabbinic Literature. Edited by Caleb Friedeman, with Johnathan Harris et al. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Academic, 2021. 
  • “‘I Will Give You What? and Whose? A Christological Interpretation of Isaiah 55:3 in Acts 13:34.” BBR 31 (2021): 368–90. 

Presentations

  • “God’s New Time Will Assuredly Come: Rereading Habakkuk 2:3 LXX (and possibly the MT) in Light of 1QpHab” (AAR SE Region Annual Meeting, March 2024) 
  • “Spirit-Indwelt, Alive, and Virtuous: Towards a Christologically Defined Theological Anthropology” (ETS Annual Meeting, 2023) 
  • “A World Set Right: Paul’s Justification Metaphors and the Christian Story-Shaped Ethical Imagination” (SBL Annual Meeting, 2022)  
  • “God’s Justice-Establishing Act in Christ: Justification in Galatians through the Lens of Contemporary Metaphor Theory” (SBL Annual Meeting, 2021) 
  • “Habakkuk 2:4 in Galatians 3:11 and the Origin of Eschatological Christ-Faith (πίστις Χριστοῦ) in Paul’s Thought” (AAR/SBL Southeastern Regional Meeting, 2021) 
  • “Justice, Deliverance, and Life: Justification in Galatians and Its LXX Background in Light of Contemporary Metaphor Theory” (IBR Annual Meeting, 2020) 
  • “Is Isaac Abraham’s Righteousness? Re-evaluating Paul’s Citation of Gen 15:6 in Gal 3:6” (SBL Midwest Regional Meeting, 2020) 
  • “Slavery, Freedom, and Power: The Meaning and Significance of Ἔργα Νόμου in Paul” (ETS Midwest Regional Meeting, 2019). 
  • “A Promising Future: The Eschatological ‘Third’ View as a Way Forward in the Πίστις Χριστοῦ Debate” (ETS Annual Meeting, 2018). 
  • “Through Death Unto Life: Justification as Freedom and Resurrection in Dialogue with Karl Barth” (Doctoral Integration Colloquium, Wheaton College and Graduate School, 2017). 
  • “‘ΤΑ ΟΣΙΑ  ∆ΑΥΙ∆  ΤΑ  ΠΙΣΤΑ’ (Acts 13:34) as the Means of Fulfilling the Covenant with Abraham” (ETS Annual Meeting, 2016). 

Research Interests

  • New Testament theology 
  • Pauline theology 
  • Theological Interpretation of Scripture 

Involvement

  • Society of Biblical Literature 
  • Institute for Biblical Research 
  • Evangelical Theological Society