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The Rev. Dr. Jennifer Strawbridge Wins Award for Best Doctoral Dissertation

The Rev. Dr. Jennifer Strawbridge, Washington and Lee Class of 2001, received the inaugural Society for Biblical Literature DeGruyter Prize for Biblical Studies and Reception History.

The award, which recognizes the best unpublished dissertation or first monograph in biblical studies, provides $1,500 to biblical scholars at the early stages of their careers. Winning manuscripts will be published in appropriate De Gruyter book series or as stand-alone titles. Jenn did her doctoral work focused on early Christian use of the Pauline epistles before Nicaea.

Jenn is a research lecturer and chaplain at Keble College, Oxford University, in Great Britain, and focuses on patristics, early Christianity and the New Testament. She also conducts daily services in the college’s chapel. You can read more about her professional activities on her Keble College website.

A summa cum laude graduate in physics and religion, Jenn belonged to Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Eta Sigma and Omicron Delta Kappa. She was a University Scholar, a R.E. Lee Research Scholar and a member of the lacrosse and tennis teams. She served as a student leader in the Shepherd Poverty Program and spent two summers as an AmericCorps volunteer in Kentucky during her undergraduate career.

After graduating from W&L, Jenn earned a master’s in New Testament theology from Keble College, a master’s in divinity from Yale University and a diploma in Anglican studies from the Berkley Divinity School at Yale.

She was ordained a priest in the Episcopal Church in 2004 and began her ministry as curate at Christ Church Episcopal in New Haven, Connecticut. She also served as an oncology and hospice chaplain at Bridgeport Hospital. She was associate rector at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Arlington, Virginia, for five years and also served as curate at Christ Church Episcopal in New Haven, Connecticut.

In 2009, Rev. Jenn presented the Baccalaureate Address at Washington and Lee, and in 2011, the University gave her the Distinguished Young Alumnus Award.

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