James M. Dawsey is the Wolfe Chair and Professor of Religious Studies at Emory & Henry College, Virginia. From 1994-2000 served as Dean and Provost of the College. He arrived in southwest Virginia from Auburn University in Alabama where he was a chaired professor in the Religion Department. Dr. Dawsey loves teaching. 

His main scholarly interests are in the areas of New Testament studies, especially the Gospels; the formation of Christian societies; and Christian missionary activities in South America. He enjoys writing fiction and believes that stories relay truths not easily encompassed by prose.  “We live our lives by stories,” Dawsey claims. “It’s no secret why Jesus and other great religious leaders were storytellers.” He is the author of several works of theology, history, and literature including Peter’s Last Sermon: Identity and Discipleship in the Gospel of Mark (Mercer University Press);  The Lukan Voice: Confusion and Irony in the Gospel of Luke (Mercer University Press); From Wasteland to Promised Land: Liberation Theology for a Post-Marxist World (Shepheard-Walwyn and Orbis Books); The Confederados: Old South Immigrants in Brazil (The University of Alabama Press); A Scholar’s Guide to Academic Journals in Religion (ATLA Bibliographic Series, volume 23, Scarecrow Press), Masters and Savages (Mercer University Press); Malachy Oracles: Evil’ Scent (Lighthouse Christian Publishing); and more than eighty other monographs and articles in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.  Most recently, he edited and authored volume 3 of the Annotated Works of Henry George, Social Problems and the Condition of Labor (Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, and Robert Schalkenbach Foundation).

Dawsey holds a B.S. Degree from Florida Southern College and the M.Div. and Ph.D. Degrees from Emory University and is an ordained minister in the South Carolina Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church.  He has been married to Dixie Marie since 1971.

Upcoming Research:

• Dr. Dawsey is currently working on three long term academic projects: a book exploring the genre of the Gospels; a series of historical articles exploring the emergence of racism in Christianity; and a study of the peculiar influence that revivalism, individualism, and democracy played in forming present-day American Christianity.  Another novel is also underway.