Jamal-Dominique Hopkins, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Christian Scriptures

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Education

Research Interests

Courses Taught

Publication Highlights

• Cultic Spiritualization: Religious Sacrifice in the Dead Sea Scrolls.Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2022.
• “An Essene Filled with the Holy Spirit? Revisiting the Qumran (Dead Sea Scrolls) Hypothesis of John the Baptist Considering an Afro-Christian Pneumatological Hermeneutic,” in Perspectives in Religious Studies48.4 (Winter 2021): 429-437.
• “The Shaping and Influence of King’s Political Theology and Worldview,” in Telos 182 (Spring 2018): 85-97.
• “Empowering Women in the Gospel of John: Toward an Afro-Christian Hermeneutic and Methodological Approach.” Pages 165-189 in African American Voices: Jesus and the Gospels. Edited by Thomas B. Slater. New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 2015.
• “Searching for the Future of the Black Evangelical Spirit: Leadership, Direction and Mentorship,” in the Bulletin for the Institute for Advanced African American Christian Thought 2 (2014): 6-19.
• “The Noahic Curse in Rabbinic Literature: Racialized Hermeneutics or Ethnocentric Exegesis.” Pages 15-27 in Representing Text: Jewish and Black Biblical Interpretation. Edited by W. David Nelson and Rivka Ulmer. Judaism in Context 16. Piscataway, N.J.; Gorgias Press, 2013.
• “Levitical Purity in the New Testament Gospel.” Pages 179-193 in “What Does the Scripture Say?” Studies in the Function of Scripture in the Gospels and the Letters of Paul. Edited by Craig A. Evans. Library of New Testament Studies 47: Studies in Scripture in Early Judaism and Christianity 16. New York: T&T Clark, 2012.
• “The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Greco-Roman World: Examining the Essenes’ View of Sacrifice in Relation to the Scrolls.” Pages 267-283 in The Dead Sea Scrolls in Context Proceedings: Integrating the Dead Sea Scrolls in the Study of Ancient Texts, Languages and Cultures, Vienna, February 11-14, 2008. Edited by Matthias Weigold, Armin Lange and Emanuel Tov. Supplements to Vetus Testamentum 140/1. Leiden: Brill, 2011.
• “Hebrew Patriarchs in the Book of Jubilees: The Use of Fröhlich’s Descriptive Analysis as an Interpretative Methodology.” Pages 239-252 in With Wisdom as a Robe: Qumran and Other Jewish Studies in Honour of Ida Fröhlich. Edited by Károly Daniel Dobos and Miklós Köszeghy. Hebrew Bible Monographs 21. Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2009.
• “The Authoritative Status of Jubilees at Qumran,” in Henoch: Journal of Studies in Judaism and Christianity from Second Temple to Late Antiquity 30 (2009/1): 97-104.
• “Duty or Responsibility? The African American Evangelical’s Identity” in the Journal of African American Christian Thought 1 (2009): 35-38.
• “Ecclesiastes.” Pages 260-265 in The Africana Bible: Reading Israel’s Scriptures from Africa and the African Diaspora. Edited by Hugh Page Jr. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2009.
• “Jubilees.” Pages 335-336 in The Africana Bible: Reading Israel’s Scriptures from Africa and the African Diaspora. Edited by Hugh Page Jr. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2009.
• “Dead Sea Scrolls: Jerusalem Priesthood in the Scrolls.” Pages 137-138 in Encyclopedia of the Historical Jesus. Edited by Craig A. Evans, New York: Routledge, 2008.

About Dr. Hopkins

Dr. Jamal-Dominique Hopkins joined the faculty of George W. Truett Theological Seminary as Associate Professor of Christian Scriptures in the fall of 2022. He previously was the founding Dean and Associate Professor of Biblical Languages and Literature at Allen University’s Dickerson-Green Theological Seminary in Columbia, South Carolina.

Dr. Hopkins holds a Pedagogy Fellowship with Yale University Center for Faith and Culture, where he is part of the Christ and Being Human Project focused on revitalizing Christian higher education. He is also a Fellow with the Seymour Institute for Black Church and Policy Studies, where he is part of the research group on The Post-Secular Conception of Science and was a contributor to the Defending Religious Freedom Initiative from 2015-2018. He has published numerous articles related to the Dead Sea Scrolls and Biblical Studies, and Black Religious Thought.

Dr. Hopkins is a member of the Society of Biblical Literature and an editorial board member of Firebrand Magazine. He is an ordained Elder, having served in pastoral ministry in California, Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina and in Manchester, England. In his spare time, Dr. Hopkins enjoys creating short amateur films, attending live theatre, and admiring God’s creation during nature walks with his wife, Karen. He enjoys sharing his research and love for Scripture and intertestamental literature.