Nanette R. Spina

Associate Professor, Religious Studies, South Asia

Her areas of interest include Hindu and Buddhist traditions in India, Sri Lanka, and North America. Her research inquiries explore the intersection of religion, gender, and migration, text and context, and religion in contemporary diaspora communities in North America. She utilizes historical and social scientific research methods (qualitative and quantitative) and has conducted field studies among religious communities in South Asia and North America. Her academic interests include: Transnational Studies in Religion, Indian Philosophical Thought, Ritual Studies, Guru Traditions, Migration, Gender Studies, and Religious Literacy and Pluralism. Dr. Spina supervises student projects in qualitative and quantitative field research and interdisciplinary studies. She teaches courses on South Asian religious traditions in the Department of Religion, and also serves on the faculty of the Center for Asian Studies. Dr. Spina is currently Co-chair for the Religion and Migration Unit of the American Academy of Religion. 

Links to her books are listed below. Monograph: “Women’s Authority and Leadership in a Hindu Goddess Tradition,” Palgrave Macmillan, 2017.  Co-edited volume: "Gendered Agency in Transcultural Hinduism and Buddhism," Routledge, 2024.

Wayne Coppins is Professor of New Testament Studies at the University of Georgia, where he has taught since 2007. His current research and teaching interests are focused on the Synoptic Gospels, as well as topics related to the intersection between German-language and English-language scholarship. Graduate students wishing to work on the Synoptic Gospels are especially welcome to apply. 

Dr. Coppins' scholarly work can be divided into three main phases. 

In the third, current phase of his scholarship (2024-present), Dr. Coppins is continuing his work of promoting and facilitating scholarly communication between German-language and English-language scholarship. With Jacob Cerone, he is co-editing a new open access journal titled Accessible German New Testament Scholarship (AGNTS), which they launched on Sept 23, 2025. He is also currently translating a collection of Ruben Zimmermann's essays on miracles. 

In the second phase of his scholarship (2013-2023), Dr. Coppins especially contributed to the field through his creation and development of the academic book series Baylor-Mohr Siebeck Studies in Early Christianity, which he co-edited with Prof. Simon Gathercole and for which he was the principal translator. The ten volumes published in the series are J. Schröter, From Jesus to the New Testament (2013), M. Konradt, Israel, Church, and the Gentiles in the Gospel of Matthew (2014), C. Markschies, Christian Theology and its Institutions in the Early Roman Empire (2015), M. Wolter, The Gospel According to Luke (2 volumes; 2016/2017), J. Frey, The Glory of the Crucified One (2018), M. Hengel and A.M. Schwemer, Jesus and Judaism (2019), E.-M. Becker, Paul on Humility (2020), O. Wischmeyer, Love as Agape (2021), and M. Konradt, Christology, Torah, and Ethics in the Gospel of Matthew (2022). Outside of the BMSEC series, Dr. Coppins also translated three additional books in this phase of scholarship, namely, J. Schröter, Jesus of Nazareth (2014; Link); J. Schröter, The Apocryphal Gospels (2021; Link); and F. C. Baur, The Christ Party in the Corinthian Community, the Opposition between Petrine and Pauline Christianity in the Earliest Church, the Apostle Peter in Rome (2021; Link); as well as book chapters by O. Wischmeyer (PDF; PDF) and P. Stuhlmacher (PDF). 

In the first phase of his scholarship (2009-2012), Dr. Coppins contributed especially to the study of freedom in the New Testament and the interpretation of 1 Corinthians. His publications from this phase included his book The Interpretation of Freedom in the Letters of Paul: With Special Reference to the 'German' Tradition. WUNT II/261. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck 2009 (paperback; online; reviews); his journal articles “Doing Justice to the Two Perspectives of 1 Corinthians 15:1-11.” Neotestamentica 44 (2010): 282-291 (online), “To Eat or Not to Eat Meat: Conversion, Bodily Practice, and the Relationship between Formal Worship and Everyday Life in the Anthropology of Religion and 1 Corinthians 8:7.” Biblical Theology Bulletin 41 (2011): 84-91 (Link), “Paul’s Juxtaposition of Freedom and Positive Servitude in 1 Corinthians 9:19 and Its Reception by Martin Luther and Gerhard Ebeling.” Lutherjahrbuch 78 (2011): 277-298 (Link), and “Sitting on Two Asses?: Second Thoughts on the Two-Animal Interpretation of Matthew 21:7.” Tyndale Bulletin 63 (2012): 275-290 (online; PDF); his encyclopedia articles on freedom in the Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception (vol. 9, pp. 675-677) and The Oxford Encyclopedia of Bible and Ethics (vol. 1, pp. 313-318); his translations of four articles by or about Martin Hengel (Link); and his RBL reviews of books by Jochen Flebbe, Gerd Theissen, and Ernst Käsemann (Link).

For further information about Dr. Coppins, please see his blog https://germanforneutestamentler.com.