Warren Campbell
ThM, 2017
Wycliffe emerged as the best choice for advanced master's work for its unique combination of academic reputation, location, theological identity, collegiality, and affordability. There is simply so much at your fingertips: the many Wycliffe-run events and groups, including academic conferences and student gatherings, the larger network of the University of Toronto and surrounding colleges within the Toronto School of Theology, each with their own communal and academic life, and, of course, the city itself.
Wycliffe affords an opportunity to engage the full array of ancient Jewish and Christian literature with unique theoretical and theological focus. In working with Prof. Donaldson, I was encouraged and equipped to think more about the place and rise of Gentile Christianity within the panoply of ancient Judaism and more specific issues in the development of early Christian hermeneutics. Prof. Seitz also piqued my interest in the collecting, ordering, and otherwise writing of texts within a book of Scripture.
I am now in the final stages of a PhD at the University of Notre Dame, where I am writing about the ways early Christians appropriated the Letter to the Hebrews as a Pauline epistle and just what kind of Paul emerges from that process of reading and writing the letter. I see my doctoral work as an extension and manifestation of the influences of Wycliffe College.
At Wycliffe, theological education and the life of faith follow the rhythms of a community, and this commitment has left an indelible mark on me and on my scholarship. The faculty are incredibly approachable and invested in their students, both academically and personally. Equally, my fellow colleagues at Wycliffe were welcoming, encouraging, and freely helped me dip my toes into the academic world of conferences, article writing, doctoral applications, and more.
