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The Rev. Dr. Jennifer Powell McNutt, Ph.D., Fr.Hist.S.

Jennifer Powell McNutt is the first woman appointed to the Franklin S. Dyrness Chair of Biblical and Theological Studies at Wheaton College, and she is Professor of Theology and History of Christianity in Wheaton’s Litfin Divinity School. She serves as program director of Wheaton’s M.A. programs in Theology and History of Christianity and taught on faculty since 2008.

Recognition

Dr. McNutt is an award-winning author and professor. In 2014, she was honored with Wheaton College’s Leland Ryken Award for Teaching Excellence in the Humanities (2013-2014). For her contribution to archival history, she was elected Fellow in the Royal Historical Society that same year. Other notable accomplishments include being elected Past-President of the Calvin Studies Society, appointed Senior Fellow of the Center for Pastor Theologians (present), and Scholar-in-Residence at the Newberry Library (2022-2026).

Education

Dr. McNutt received her Ph.D. (2008) in History from the University of St. Andrews’ Reformation Studies Institute, M.Div. (2003) from Princeton Theological Seminary, and B.A. (2000) in Religious Studies from Westmont College.

Publications

Dr. McNutt’s publications include co-editing The Oxford Handbook of the Bible and the Reformation (Oxford University Press, 2025), which was awarded the John Tedeschi Prize for the Best Reference Book of 2025 from the Sixteenth Century Society. She is the co-author of Know the Theologians (Zondervan, 2024; CT Book Awards Finalist in Public Theology 2024) and author of The Mary We Forgot: What the Apostle to the Apostles Teaches the Church Today (Brazos Press, 2024; ECPA Book of the Year Finalist 2025; Midwest Book Awards Finalist 2025). Dr. McNutt is the recipient of the Frank S. and Elizabeth D. Brewer Prize and the Sydney E. Mead Prize by the American Society of Church History for her doctoral research on Geneva’s eighteenth-century clergy and first book, Calvin Meets Voltaire: The Clergy of Geneva in the Age of Enlightenment, 1685-1798 (Routledge, 2014). Her writing has also appeared in magazines (Christianity Today, Mockingbird, Christian History Magazine) and online blogs (Logos, Christian Scholar’s Review, etc).

Multi-Media

Dr. McNutt has served as an expert in the Emmy award-winning documentary of the Reformation, Call for Freedom, for the 500th anniversary in 2017 and currently participates as a Bible history expert in the documentary, Unbound, for Tony Evans Ministries. She been a guest on numerous podcasts including The Holy Post and enjoys sharing her work with broader audiences.

Research

Dr. McNutt’s ongoing research and teaching specializes in the history of the Reformation, theology, and the Bible with particular emphasis on the Reformed tradition from the 16th-18th centuries. She has been working on an expansive archival research project on the history of the French Bible since 2015 that has taken her to the following archives: The Huntington Library in Pasadena, The University of St. Andrews in Scotland, The University of Cambridge in England, The University of Oxford in England, The University of Aberdeen in Scotland, the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris, Bibliothèque de la Société de l'Histoire du Protestantisme Français in Paris, the Bibliothèque de Genève, L’Institut d’Histoire de la Réformation, Musée international de la Réforme, Georgetown University, The Library of Congress in Washington D.C., Herzog August Bibliothek in Wolfenbuttel, Germany.

Support

Dr. Jennifer Powell McNutt was one of 80 alumni honored by Westmont College in 2017 for cultivating “thoughtful scholars, grateful servants and faithful leaders for global engagement with the academy, church and the world.”

— Westmont College 80th Anniversary Alumni Award Honoree (2017)
A woman with long blond hair dressed in a black robe performing a religious ceremony or sermon in front of a cross on a church wall. There are various items on a table in front of her, including pitchers, plates, and bread.
A woman with long blond hair dressed in a black robe performing a religious ceremony or sermon in front of a cross on a church wall. There are various items on a table in front of her, including pitchers, plates, and bread.

Presbyterian Pastor

Rev. Dr. McNutt is an ordained Teaching Elder in the Presbyterian church since 2010. She co-founded McNuttshell Ministries with her husband, the Rev. Dr. David McNutt, which seeks to serve as a bridge between the church and the academy through teaching, speaking, and writing. Their co-written book, Know the Theologians (Zondervan, 2024), is a useful resource for classrooms and churches. Rev. Dr. McNutt is a founding Board Member for the Center for Women in Ministry at Beeson Divinity School. She is a Senior Fellow with the Center for Pastor Theologians and served as a U.S. Delegate at the 2010 Lausanne Congress in Cape Town. She preaches and teaches in churches by invitation and across denominations.

McNuttshell Ministries
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Invite Dr. McNutt!

Fill out this form to contact Dr. McNutt for invitations to speak, teach, and lecture at your academic or church institution. Podcast requests are also warmly received here.