Professor Emerita, Theology and Religious Studies
Dr. Florence Morgan Gillman has been a member of USD’s Department of Theology and Religious Studies since 1986. She completed her B.A. and M.A. degrees at the Catholic University of America, Washington, DC and then earned the B.A, M.A.- S.T.B., S.T.L., Ph.D. and S.T.D. at the Catholic University of Louvain (KULeuven), Belgium. She previously taught at Gonzaga University, Mundelein College and St. Meinrad School of Theology.
Dr. Gillman’s research has focused on the New Testament, especially the letters of Paul, and the history of Christian origins. She has published widely. Her most recent books include a feminist commentary on the First Letter to the Thessalonians (2016) and Brothers and Sisters: Paul in the Liturgy (2024). She is currently continuing research on an historical study of Queen Berenice and various other Jewish female political figures referred to in the New Testament. Her research has been supported by two NEH grants as well as various USD Faculty Research, Irvine, Steber, University Professorship and Internationalization grants. For decades Dr. Gillman has been an active member of the Society of Biblical Literature and the Catholic Biblical Association of America. She has served for many years as an Associate Editor of the Catholic Biblical Quarterly and on the International Board of Louvain Studies.
In her 35 years at USD Dr. Gillman taught a wide range of biblical studies and other theological and humanities courses at USD. She also notably taught many site-specific THRS international courses for USD’s study abroad (see resume) including two unusual study/athletic competition initiatives for the USD Men’s Basketball trips in Italy and Costa Rica. All of these international courses have been structured according to a site-specific model she herself developed and has shared with other USD teaching abroad faculty in CEE seminars at USD as well as at international study abroad conferences.
Awards
- In 2010 Dr. Gillman received USD’s major teaching award, the Davies Chair. Her student evaluations throughout the years have been consistently excellent, with quite a few students noting her courses led them to adopt a THRS major. Over her many years at the university Dr. Gillman’s lecturing has also regularly extended beyond the confines of USD with extensive speaking to groups such as churches, libraries, clubs, museums and the opera. Administratively Dr. Gillman has served as Chair of the THRS Department, as Coordinator of the Program in Interdisciplinary Humanities, and as Coordinator of the Classical Studies Program. She has served on a wide range of university committees, including the Senate and many task forces. She has been especially active as a member of academic integrity hearings for the College of Arts and Sciences as well as the Hahn School of Nursing. At the departmental level she has likewise been heavily involved on all types of committees throughout the years.
Areas of Interest
Dr. Gillman’s wide-ranging interests in both research and teaching have led her to many places around the globe, travel which has vastly enriched her courses. More recently (co-teaching with her husband, Dr. John Gillman) she has been a visiting professor at the Myanmar Institute of Religious Studies in Yangon, Myanmar (Burma). She has also co-lectured with him at Holy Spirit College and Caritas Hospital in Hong Kong and as a visiting professor for the Institute of Sino-Christian Studies at a number of universities and seminaries in Taiwan and mainland China.