AUSTIN – February 13, 2015 –Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary has called The Reverend Dr. Margaret Aymer, associate professor of New Testament, effective February 13, 2015.

“I am thrilled to welcome Margaret Aymer as a colleague and eager to have our students learn from her,” said Austin Seminary Academic Dean David H. Jensen. “She combines innovative approaches to New Testament scholarship with deep pastoral sensitivity. She has already distinguished herself as a major international voice in the church and the academy. Margaret personifies excellence in teaching, church leadership, and research. She is a delightful conversation partner who knows how biblical scholarship makes a difference: to the church and the world, especially as people struggle for life in its fullness.”

Aymer comes to Austin Seminary from Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, Georgia, where she has been associate professor of New Testament since 2004. She teaches core courses on the Introduction to the New Testament, Exegesis, and Greek and elective courses in numerous disciplines including African Americans and the Bible, Feminist and Womanist Biblical Interpretation, and an Introduction to Homiletics. Active in the Society of Biblical Literature and American Academy of Religion, she has spoken as a guest lecturer at numerous academic and church conferences across the United States, including the 2013 MidWinter Lectures at Austin Seminary. There she led the Jones Lectures, offering a discourse on the “New Testament as Migrant Writings.” Aymer wrote Confessing the Beatitudes, the 2011 Horizons Bible Study (the annual Bible study resource for Presbyterian Women), for which she won the Award of Excellence by the Associated Church Press.

Professor Aymer earned her PhD in New Testament and Early Christianity at Union Theological Seminary in 2004. She also holds the MDiv in New Testament and Early Christianity from Union Theological Seminary (1996) and the BA in U.S. History from Harvard University (1989).  She was honored in 2013 with the Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, from Hood Theological Seminary in Salisbury, North Carolina.

Aymer has published three books: James: Diaspora Rhetorics of a Friend of God (Sheffield Publishing, 2014), Fortress Commentary on the Bible (Fortress Press, 2014); First Pure, then peaceable: Frederick Douglass, darkness and the Epistle of James (T&T Clark, 2008), as well as numerous journal articles and book chapters. Her fourth book, Islanders, Islands and the Bible: Ruminations, is due for release in 2015 (Society of Biblical Studies).

"Living into my vocation has always required listening for the voice of the Spirit calling me to new ministry, in the service of Jesus Christ,” said Aymer. “In this season, it seems that I am being blown southwest, to Austin, Texas, to participate in the vital ministry of the staff, students, and faculty of Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. I am excited to see what next adventure God has in store for me, as I join the APTS family. I look forward to participating in this vibrant Christian community that strives to educate the whole church for ministry."

Aymer has served the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) broadly. She has served on the Presbyteries’ Cooperative Committee on Examinations since 2010, moderating the six persons who write the Bible Exegesis Ordination Examination for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). She was a member of the Committee on Preparation of Ministry of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) from 2010-2011, training sessions (governing bodies) of local congregations on the ordination process and their responsibilities therein. Aymer was also a member of the General Assembly Task Force on Civil Unions and Marriage (2009-2010), and she served as a steering committee member for the Committee on Theological Education Consultation on Racism from 2004-2008.

“Austin Seminary is very pleased with the prospect of Margaret Aymer joining our community,” said Austin Seminary President Theodore J. Wardlaw. “An accomplished New Testament scholar; a prolific writer, preacher and speaker; a committed Presbyterian pastor and lover of the Church of Jesus Christ; Margaret will bring to the classroom her passion for both the Word and the enterprise of learning.  Students, faculty colleagues, church members—indeed, all whom she encounters—will be grateful that she is here!”

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Founded in 1902, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary is an institution of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) whose mission is to educate and equip individuals for the ordained Christian ministry and other forms of Christian service and leadership. For more information and ways to support Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, visit www.austinseminary.edu.

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