Biblical Scholar / Public Theologian / Writer / Speaker
Dr. Jennifer T. Kaalund is a biblical scholar writing and speaking at the intersection of Christian scripture, race, and American moral life. Her work asks how sacred texts, and the theological traditions built around them, have shaped our identity, our politics, and how we understand the world. At a moment when the Bible is invoked to justify almost everything, she thinks it matters to read it carefully and honestly. She creates a space for rigorous, accessible thinking about ancient words and urgent present questions.
Kaalund is a monthly online contributor to The Christian Century, where she writes on scripture and public life for a broad audience of clergy, scholars, and engaged readers. Her column reads ancient texts alongside urgent present questions.
Her first book, Reading Hebrews and 1 Peter with the African American Great Migration: Diaspora, Place, and Identity (Bloomsbury/T&T Clark, 2018), explores constructed and contested identities in Hebrews and 1 Peter through the lens of the New Negro, a similarly vulnerable diasporic identity formed during the Great Migration in the early twentieth century.
Her second book, on the politics of genealogies and human connectivity, is forthcoming. Kaalund was an Associate Professor of New Testament at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary (PTS), where she was the first African American woman in the seminary’s history to be awarded tenure. Before her time at PTS, she was Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Iona College, where she received the Junior Faculty Award from the Faculty Senate in 2020. She received her Ph.D. from The Theological School at Drew University in New Testament and Early Christianity.
Her research interests include Christian scriptures, contextual biblical hermeneutics, the study of early Christianity in its Roman imperial context, and African American history, culture, and religion. Prior to her career in academia, Kaalund worked in healthcare management, holding leadership roles at Johns Hopkins Health System, Cigna Healthcare, and Wellpoint (Empire Blue Cross BlueShield).
Kaalund serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion. She is a member of the Society of Biblical Literature, the American Academy of Religion, and the Society for the Study of Black Religion, and serves on the Committee for Underrepresented Ethnic and Racial Minorities in the Profession (CUREMP) committee of SBL and the steering committees of the African American Biblical Hermeneutics and Womanist Biblical Interpretation Units. Her scholarship has been supported by The Forum for Theological Exploration and The Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion.
Kaalund speaks to congregations, universities, seminaries, and public forums on scripture and American moral life, addressing how ancient texts have shaped our politics, our identities, and the ways we understand the world.