Andrew McGowan

Andrew McGowan was appointed Dean of the Berkeley Divinity School in 2014. An Anglican priest and historian, his scholarly work focuses on the life of early Christian communities, and on aspects of contemporary Anglicanism. He is author or editor of six books; his project of re-describing early eucharistic practice in relation to ancient food and meals is found in Ascetic Eucharists: Food and Drink in Early Christian Ritual Meals (Oxford, 1999) and in subsequent articles and chapters produced in conversation with members of the Meals in the Greco-Roman World group of the Society of Biblical Literature. In Ancient Christian Worship (Baker Academic, 2014; Italian translation Il Culto Cristiano dei Primi Secoli [Dehoniane, 2019]) he considers discursive and ritual practice in the ancient Church, including use of music and speech as well as sacramental ritual, acknowledging the diversity of early Christian belief and practice. He is currently working on how early Christian and other ancient Mediterranean groups used, changed, and created notions of sacrifice, and on the history and theology of bread.

Before coming to Yale, Professor McGowan was Warden of Trinity College at the University of Melbourne. He was also a member of the General Synod of the Australian Anglican Church and of its Doctrine Commission, contributing to published conversations on environmental theology, restorative justice, and the theology of worship, and was editor of the Journal of Anglican Studies for ten years. His sermons have been published in Ancient and Modern (Wipf and Stock, 2015) and in Seven Last Words: Cross and Creation (Cascade, 2021). His weekly lectionary commentary Andrew’s Version is at https://abmcg.substack.com.

Read more

• Preaching, Plagiarism, and AI

• A Saint, his Cloak, and Us

• The Hungry Jesus

• The Real War on Christmas

• Andrew McGowan: committing to big-spirited conversation

• Andrew McGowan appointed as Dean of Berkeley Divinity School at Yale

Books

1. Seven Last Words: Cross and Creation (Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2021).
2. Ancient and Modern: Anglican Essays and Sermons (Melbourne, Australia and Eugene, OR.; Morning Star and Wipf & Stock, 2015).
3. Ancient Christian Worship: Early Church Practices in Social, Historical, and Theological Perspective (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2014). [Italian translation: Il culto cristiano dei primi secoli. Uno sguardo sociale, storico e teologico (Bologna: EDB, 2019)].
4. Method and Meaning: Essays on New Testament Interpretation in Honor of Harold W. Attridge (editor, with Kent Richards; SBLRBS 67; Atlanta, GA: SBL Press, 2011).
5. God in Early Christian Thought: Essays in Memory of Lloyd G. Patterson (editor, with Brian Daley SJ and Timothy Gaden; VCSupp 94; Leiden: Brill, 2009).
6. Ascetic Eucharists: Food and Drink in Early Christian Ritual Meals (Oxford Early Christian Studies; Oxford: Clarendon, 1999).

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