The Rev. Dr. Carolyn J. Sharp

Denomination: The Episcopal Church (TEC)
Organization: Yale Divinity School

The Rev. Dr. Carolyn Sharp is a biblical scholar and professor of homiletics at Yale Divinity School. An Episcopal priest, Sharp preaches and presides regularly at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Essex, Connecticut.

Sharp has served on the Yale Divinity School faculty since 2000. The first 17 years of her career were in biblical studies, the last five of those years at the rank of full professor of Hebrew Scriptures. She was the first woman to be tenured in Hebrew Bible in the history of Yale Divinity School. Drawn increasingly to proclamation of the Gospel and research on Christian preaching, Sharp was joyful to be able to reconfigure her position in 2017 as Professor of Homiletics.

Works:

• postcolonial commentary on Joshua was published in 2019 by Smyth & Helwys

• feminist commentary on Jeremiah 26–52 is currently in production with Kohlhammer

• edited or co-edited 6 books, including the Oxford Handbook of the Prophets (2016)

• current research projects include a Micah commentary (Eerdmans) and a homiletics book that engages each of the four Gospels for the spiritual formation of believers

Most recent homiletics presentations:

“A Timely Word in Lament: Psalm 90 and the Homiletical Wisdom of Gardner Taylor,” for the Homiletics and Biblical Studies section of the Society of Biblical Literature, Denver in November 2018.

“Resistance and Renewal: Preaching from the Psalms and the Prophets,” for the Preaching Excellence Program of the Episcopal Preaching Foundation, Roslyn, Virginia in May 2019.

“Of Springs and Living Stones: Psalm 87 and the Memory of Zion in Christian Preaching,” for the Theologische Fakultät of the University of Basel, Switzerland in December 2019.

Courses taught include:

Principles & Practices of Preaching (intro course)

Envisioning Shalom: Preaching for Creation (ecotheology and earth justice)

Grace Unbounded: Preaching on Ephesians

The Hebrew Scriptures and Christian Preaching: The Writings

The Writings is the third division of the Hebrew Bible (Torah, Prophets, Writings). That section includes Psalms, Job, Lamentations, Ruth, Song of Songs, and Ecclesiastes, among other biblical books.