Assistant Professor of Religion, University Chaplain
College of Arts and Sciences
Telephone: 630-844-6867
Fax: 630-844-5151
Email Address: dfink@aurora.edu
I am an historian of the Christian tradition, which means that it's my job to resurrect the dead and let them speak. I take this task very seriously, because I believe the dead have a good deal to teach us, if only we invest the time and energy to listen.
A native Minnesotan, for the last six years I have lived in the milder climes of North Carolina, where basketball, barbeque, and bluegrass music inspire an almost religious devotion. When I'm not cheering on my beloved Blue Devils, tending the coals, or jamming to some back-porch music, I'm often to be found beneath a pile of small children: Graham, Beatrice, Ingrid, and William. Prior to my arrival at AU, I taught in religion and history departments at Duke, Wake Forest, and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
Education:
Ph.D. - Religion, Duke University
M.Div. - Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
B.A. - English, University of Minnesota
Areas of Specialization
History of Christianity
History of Biblical Interpretation
Religion and War
Courses Taught
The Christian Bible
The Shaping of Christian Identity
Jesus
American History to 1877
Highlights of Publications, Honors and Professional Contributions:
Book (editor and translator) - Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs, in The Reformation Commentary on Scripture (InterVarsity Press, forthcoming)
Article: "Was There a ‘Reformation Doctrine of Justification'?" in Harvard Theological Review (forthcoming, 2010)
Article: "‘The Doers of the Law Will Be Justified': The Exegetical Origins of Martin Bucer's Triplex Iustificatio," in Journal of Theological Studies 58, No. 2 (Oct 2007): 485-524.
Conference Presentation: "Solomon among the Reformers: Sex and the Bible in the Sixteenth Century," American Society of Church History annual meeting, San Diego, Ca., January 2010.
Other Interests
Good books (lots of nautical fiction lately)
Good food (especially involving smoke and spices)
Good music (the louder, the better)
Good company (the intellectually and spiritually curious)
