An interview with Dr. Sandra Richter

This is the fourth and final week featuring Old Testament scholar Sandra Richter, who holds the Robert H. Gundry Chair of Biblical Studies at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California.

In May 2018, Elizabeth Glass Turner published an interview with Dr. Richter and an excerpt is included in this post, with a link to the entire interview added at the end of the excerpt. The interview was published in the United Methodist magazine, Good News, and was entitled, "Archaeologist, Mama, Defender of the Faith".

Here's the excerpt, with Dr. Richter speaking about her book, The Epic of Eden: A Christian Entry into the Old Testament, at the end,

“There aren’t many women in my age category in biblical studies at all! Add a husband and children to that and the numbers drop dramatically,” Richter responds. “I started studying Bible for the sake of ministry. When I realized I would be transitioning from ministry into education, I went back and studied more. By then I was doing Hebrew and Aramaic and archaeology and systematics.” Before long she was intensively studying Hebrew (known as Rapid Reading) under Jo Ann Hackett, noted Old Testament scholar at Harvard University, and working on the Tel Dothan archeology collection in Jerusalem under Gary Pratico from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Richter took modern Hebrew at Hebrew University in Jerusalem and applied to excavate under Larry Stager of Harvard University in Ashkelon, a historic Philistine city along the coast of Israel. For her, there was no turning back.

Ten years ago, Richter had put the final touches on a book adapted from her Introduction to Old Testament seminary class content. Pastors she trained were yearning for a way to easily communicate the depth of her material to their congregations. After all, the Old Testament is often the wince-inducing portion of the Bible for many Christians. Richter continually managed to do something almost quixotic: she made the Old Testament clear and approachable – and therefore interesting – without sacrificing nuance, substance, or academic rigor. The Epic of Eden will soon be out in a 2nd edition from InterVarsity Press, while the Seedbed Publishing curriculum that builds on the original volume continues its widespread popularity.

“What actually strikes me the most about Epic is the sense of calling I had in writing that book,” Richter reflects. “Of course, in academia you are expected to write. Getting a job, building a reputation in the guild are all dependent on getting those books and articles out. But with Epic I felt called to write the book. I honestly felt like God wasn’t going to let me die until it was written. And now looking back at these past ten years — I am struck by the fact that it has been my most widely distributed and most influential publication.”

Here's the link to the full interview: https://goodnewsmag.org/2018/05/archaeologist-mama-defender-of-the-faith/ 

Sandra Richter's series on the Book of Ruth

COMMITTEE ON BIBLE TRANSLATION - Dr. Sandra Richter is among those honored to serve on the committee that oversees the New International Version (NIV) of the Bible. Some the scholars pictured in the photo include: Bruce Waltke, Richard Hess, Daniel Wallace, Jeannine Brown, Mark Strauss, Simon Gathercole, Douglas Moo, Bill Mounce, Craig Blomberg, Dr. Richter, and Mark Boda.

This is the third consecutive week that Dr. Sandra Richter has been featured here on Charismatic Scholarship. As was mentioned last week, she is an Old Testament scholar and currently teaches at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California.

She has written a book entitled, The Epic of Eden: A Christian Entry into the Old Testament. In conjunction with the book, she has recorded a video teaching series on the Book of Ruth. The entire series can be purchased at this link, while the first three videos in the series can be viewed below:

Sandra Richter on women in ministry

The video above features Westmont College professor Sandra Richter giving a one-hour lecture on women in ministry (the year the video was recorded - 2007 - Sandra was teaching at Asbury Theological Seminary).  [UPDATE:  Unfortunately, Asbury is not allowing the video to be played anywhere but YouTube, so click here.]

Beyond its thorough scriptural presentation, Dr. Richter's talk is also noteworthy for its irenic approach. For example, even though she is firm in her convictions, she notes, "I will not break fellowship over this topic."

From 1983 to 1991, Richter was a minister in the Assemblies of God. Her Ph.D. was earned at Harvard University and she has taught at Asbury, Wesley Biblical Seminary, Wheaton College, and she currently holds The Robert H. Gundry Chair of Biblical Studies at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California. 

Specifically, she is an Old Testament scholar and has written an outstanding book, The Epic of Eden: A Christian Entry into the Old Testament. Eerdmans publishing company is having her write the volume on Deuteronomy in its Two Horizons Old Testament Commentary series.

In videos below, Dr. Richter gives three short teachings on the earliest chapters in Genesis.

Sandra Richter: "God chose the foolish things...."

Sandra Richter

Sandra Richter is an Old Testament scholar at Westmont College and much could be written about her important contributions to biblical studies.

But, the video featured in this post reveals the riveting story of how Dr. Richter came to be first a Christian and then an Old Testament scholar. In relating her story, she uses as her text, I Corinthians 1:25-31, which contains the memorable phrase, "God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise..."

It's an account of how a young lady from a very dysfunctional, nominally Christian home winds up getting a PhD at Harvard and teaching at some of the premier Christian universities and colleges in America. And because Richter is a most interesting speaker and the story is a lively example of God's power at work, the video's 33 minutes sail by in seemingly half that time.

Next week, I'll share more about her education and her subsequent career, but first, here's her powerful story, presented during a 2018 chapel service at Westmont College in California (her talk is preceded by a two-minute introduction by one of Westmont's students):