About
Aubrey Taylor McClain, Ph.D. is the Shapiro Chair for Jewish-Christian Studies and an Associate Professor in the Department of Theology.
Education
Aubrey received her Ph.D. in Hebrew Bible from Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan, Israel, and her M.A. in Biblical History and Geography from Jerusalem University College in Jerusalem. She has also served as a member of the faculty since 2010, teaching dozens of field courses in the historical geography of the Bible to university and seminary students from all over the world.
Experience
She has also lectured at the Tantur Ecumenical Institute in Jerusalem and led educational tours of Israel for lay audiences. Living, studying, and teaching in Israel profoundly influenced Aubrey's approach to faith and scholarship. She particularly acknowledges the value of the challenges she was presented by her Jewish and Eastern Orthodox Christian professors and colleagues and the support they provided. These experiences proved instrumental as she navigated her own worldview and vocational path.
In her current role, Dr. McClain teaches classes in biblical studies and Jewish history and directs the Shapiro Jewish Christian Studies program and endowment, which was established to teach Greenville students about Judaism and Christianity’s interconnected past, present, and future, to combat antisemitism, and to promote dialogue and reconciliation between Jewish and Christian communities. In this role, she leads curricular and co-curricular programming on Greenville University's campus, exposing students to Jewish history and culture. She also oversees the Sandmel Lecture Fund, which aims to ensure that Jewish voices are heard on Greenville’s campus. Additionally, she mentors a student-led Interfaith club, providing opportunities for students to deepen their faith identity through learning about and encountering others. Throughout her work, whether it be in teaching biblical studies or guiding Interfaith dialogue, Aubrey invites students to understand others and themselves through historical and cultural context, storytelling, and adventurous exploration.
Personal
Aubrey lives in St. Louis with her husband, Joshua, and their dog, Tycho, an adorable maltipoo who has become the Theology department mascot. She loves their neighborhood community, the internationalism of their part of town, and being within walking distance of a great park. Aubrey is a plant lover and always tries to cultivate the Mediterranean plants she grew to love during her time in Israel despite the obvious climatic obstacles. She and her husband travel abroad often to see family and she still travels back to Israel to teach during university breaks. She loves hiking, yoga, cooking, and reading outside.
Publications
McClain, Aubrey Taylor. The Transjordan in Biblical Literature: A Critical Spatial Approach. BBRDiss. Edited by Richard Hess. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, forthcoming.
McClain, Aubrey Taylor. “The Day of the Lord Geographically Imagined.“ In Lexham Geographic Commentary on Poetry and Prophecy, edited by Barry J. Beitzel. Bellingham, WA: Lexham, forthcoming, 2024.
McClain, Aubrey Taylor. “East–West Movement as Judgement and Restoration.“ In Lexham Geographic Commentary on Poetry and Prophecy, edited by Barry J. Beitzel. Bellingham, WA: Lexham, forthcoming, 2024
McClain, Aubrey Taylor. “The Apportionment of Transjordan.“ In Lexham Geographic Commentary on the Historical Books, Vol. 1, edited by Barry J. Beitzel. Bellingham, WA: Lexham, forthcoming, 2023.
McClain, Aubrey Taylor. “The Judgeship of Deborah and Barak.” In Lexham Geographic Commentary on the Historical Books, Vol. 1, edited by Barry J. Beitzel. Bellingham, WA: Lexham, forthcoming, 2023.
Awards & Honors
Nominated and selected to participate in the 2024 faculty cohort for the Teaching Interfaith Understanding Seminar, co-hosted by the Council of Independent Colleges and Interfaith America, funded by the Lily Endowment.
Recipient of the Michael & Barbara Newmark Institute for Human Relations Pluralism Award, 2024
Winner of the Archer Award for Distinguished Faculty Scholar in the field of Religious Liberty, 2018. Grant provided for summer research at the Ecole Biblique and Tantur Institute in Jerusalem, May – August, 2019.
Conference Presentations
“Numbers 21: Evidence of a Complex Territoriality.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Biblical Literature Annual Conference, San Antonio, Texas. Forthcoming, November 19–22, 2022.
“Bashan, Gilead, and the Ends of the Earth: Landscape Symbolism in Mic 7:11-20.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Biblical Literature Annual Conference, San Antonio, Texas. Forthcoming, November 19–22, 2022.
“Cisjordan and Transjordan: United and Divided.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Biblical Literature Annual Conference, San Antonio, Texas. November 19–22, 2021.
“The Promised Land of Genesis 15: Historical Geography and the Critical Spatial Approach.” Paper to be presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Biblical Literature Annual Conference, Boston, Massachusetts. November 29–December 10, 2020.
“Genesis 1 from an Ancient Near Eastern and Christian Perspective.” Interfaith presentation at Science and Faith Conference, Greenville University, Greenville, Illinois. November 10, 2019.
“Genesis 15: Spatial Theology.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Graduate Student Theological Seminar, Fishers, Indiana. September 21–22, 2018.
