Biography
Professor Matthews earned a ThD in New Testament and Christian Origins at Harvard University. Her areas of specialty include feminist biblical interpretation, Luke-Acts, early Christian martyrdom, and early Christian anti-Judaism. In the past 10 years, she has written several articles on ancient resurrection, which inform her monograph with the working title *A Feminist Politics of Early Christian Resurrection: Justice, Authority, Flesh* (Forthcoming, Eerdmans, 2027).
She is an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church (Dakotas Area), and enjoys both preaching and teaching about Scripture. She also is convinced of the value of travel-study experiences, and has traveled with students to both Tukey and Greece to study ancient sites important to understanding the imperial context of early Jews and Christians.
Degrees:
D.Th., Harvard Divinity School, 1997
M.Div., Boston University School of Theology, 1987
B.A., University of North Dakota, 1984
Courses Taught:
Interpreting the New Testament
The New Testament and Anti-Judaism
The New Testament, Gender and Sexuality
Slavery in the Pauline Churches
Rome and Romans in Luke-Acts
Early Christian Narrative: The Second Century
Exegesis in the Gospels and Acts – Luke
Exegesis in the NT Epistles & Revelation - I Corinthians
Exegesis in the NT Epistles & Revelation - Romans
Professional Affiliations:
Society of New Testament Studies
North American Patristics Society
Society of Biblical Literature
Publications:
A Feminist Politics of Early Christian Resurrection: Justice, Authority, Flesh (Forthcoming monograph, Eerdmans, 2027).
Luke 1- 9. Co-authored with Barbara E. Reid, OP. Wisdom Commentary 43A. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2021.
Luke 10 – 24. Co-authored with Barbara E. Reid, OP. Wisdom Commentary 43b. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2021
The Acts of the Apostles: Taming the Tongues of Fire. Phoenix New Testament Guides (ed. Tat-Siong Benny Liew). Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2013; reissued as The Acts of the Apostles: Introduction and Study Guide: Taming the Tongues of Fire. T&T Clarke, 2017.
Perfect Martyr: The Stoning of Stephen and the Construction of Christian Identity. Oxford University Press, 2010.
First Converts: Rich Pagan Women and the Rhetoric of Mission in Early Judaism and Christianity. Contraversions: Jews and Other Differences. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001.
Tat-Siong Benny Liew and Shelly Matthews, eds., Race and Biblical Studies: Antiracism Pedagogy for the Classroom, Resources for Biblical Study 101. Atlanta, GA: SBL Press, 2022.
E. Leigh Gibson and Shelly Matthews, eds. Violence in the New Testament: Jesus Followers and Other Jews under Empire. New York/London: T & T Clark International, 2005.
Shelly Matthews, Cynthia Kittredge, Melanie Johnson DeBaufre, eds. Walk in the Ways of Wisdom: Essays in Honor of Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza. Harrisburg/London/New York: Trinity Press International, 2003.
“Acts of the Apostles,” Pages 151-64 of Judeophobia and the New Testament: Texts and Contexts. Edited by Sarah E. Rollens, Eric M. Vanden Eykel, and Meredith J.C. Warren. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2025.
“Luke-Acts, the Demons and the Jews: A Gender Analysis.” Pages 93 – 117 of From Difference to Deviance: Rivalry and Enmity in Earliest Christianity. Edited by Daniel A. Smith and Joseph Verheyden. BETL 339. Leuven: Peeters, 2024.
“Hearing Wo/men Prophets: Intersections, Silences, Publics.” Pages 47 – 68 of After the Corinthian Women Prophets: Reimagining Rhetoric and Power. Edited by Joseph A. Marchal. Semeia St. 97. Atlanta: SBL Press, 2021.
“I have prayed for you . . . strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22:32): Jesus’s Proleptic Prayer for Peter and Other Gendered Tropes in Luke’s War on Satan.” Pages 231 – 46 of Petitioners, Penitents, and Poets: On Prayer and Praying in Second Temple Judaism.
“A Feminist Analysis of the Veiling Passage (1 Corinthians 11:2–16): Who really cares that Paul was not a Gender Egalitarian after all?” Pages 115 – 128 of The Bible, Gender and Sexualities: Critical Readings. Edited by Lynn R. Huber and Rhiannon Graybill
“The Lynching Tree and the Cross: James Cone, Historical Narrative, and the Ideology of Just Crucifixion (Lk 23:41).” Pages 147 – 170 of The Narrative Self in Early Christianity: Essays in Honor of Judith Perkins. Edited by Janet Spittler.
“Does Dating Luke-Acts into the Second Century Affect the Q Hypothesis?” Pages 243-63 of Gospel Interpretation and the Q Hypothesis, ed. Müller and Heike Omerzu. Omerzu, LNTS 573, London/New York: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2018.
"Fleshly Resurrection, Wifely Submission, and the Myth of the Primal Androgyne: the link between Luke 24:39 and Ephesians 5:30.” Pages 101-117 of Delightful Acts: New Essays on Canonical and Non-Canonical Acts, ed. Harold Attridge, et. al.
“To be one and the same with the woman whose head is shaven (1Cor 11:5b): Resisting the violence of 1 Corinthians 11:2-16 from the bottom of the kyriarchal pyramid.” Pages 31-51 in Sexual Violence and Sacred Texts. Edited by Amy Kalamofsky.
“Fleshly Resurrection, Authority Claims, and the Scriptural Practices of Lukan Christianity” JBL 136 (2017): 163-83.
“Elijah, Ezekiel and Romulus: Luke’s Flesh and Bones (Luke 24:39) in Light of Ancient Narratives of Ascent, Resurrection, and Apotheosis.” Pages 161-82 in On Prophets, Warriors and Kings: Former Prophets through the Eyes of their Interpreters.