Hello, my name is Alex Kirk.

I teach biblical studies for Crosslands Seminary—an innovative, non-residential training course for ministry leaders in the UK and beyond—where I serve as the lead faculty member for biblical studies as well as a tutor.

By training, I am a philologist and a theologian with expertise in the Old Testament language, literature, and interpretation. In 2022, I completed my PhD under Walter Moberly and Stuart Weeks in Theology & Religion at Durham University. My dissertation, “Agur and the Theology of Wisdom: A Philological Approach to Reading Proverbs 30 as a Coherent Text,” argues for reading the chapter as a collection unified by Agur’s voice, a wry or sardonic tone, and themes surrounding humility and pride. My reading of the chapter has broader implications for wisdom theology and debates around wisdom literature as a genre as well as for understanding and identifying humor in biblical texts. As of Summer 2023, my revised dissertation is in press with the Society of Biblical Literature Press as Agur and the Theology of Wisdom: Philology, Coherence, and Genre in Proverbs 30. It should appear sometime in 2024.

Current projects include thinking and writing about laughter and humor in the Hebrew Bible (especially Proverbs), and an edited volume on the relationship of wisdom and law as concepts in ancient Israel/early Judaism. More generally, I am interested in Biblical Hebrew philology & linguistics, poetry, wisdom literature, pentateuch, the history of interpretation, hermeneutics, and theological interpretation of Scripture. For a window into my academic work, complete with PDFs of publications, syllabi, and more (!), you can browse my academia.edu profile. Much of the same info is on my CV, which I keep up-to-date as a public Google doc.

From 2016–19, I spent most of my time teaching Bible and theology for national pastors in the majority world with Training Leaders International. If you want to view a gallery of past adventures, check out my my Instagram. From 2019–2023, I continued to teach with TLI as a volunteer while I lived in Durham and worked on my PhD. During this time, I was also part of a small faculty team that launched William Tennent School of Theology. I helped to plan the initial biblical studies track for Tennent and have regularly taught courses on the Pentateuch, Scripture and translation, as well as the Biblical Hebrew sequence.

The best way to keep up-to-date with me and my work as well as get a glimpse into what I am studying, teaching, and thinking about is to subscribe to my monthly email newsletter. I've dubbed it SPLINTERED LIGHT, which comes from a paradigm-shifting conversation that C.S. Lewis once had with J.R.R. Tolkien. I try to keep it fresh and interesting with short updates on what I'm up to, some spiritual reflections, recommendations for music/art/books/websites/articles, and short writing on biblical and theological topics. Just in case anyone is interested, old issues of the newsletter are archived here.

Thanks for reading.

Stay in touch: alex.kirk@crosslands.training