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Biography
Dr. Emily Hunter McGowin is associate professor of theology at Wheaton College. Her research focuses on the intersection of theology, history, and practice. Her first book, Quivering Families (Fortress Press, 2018) used ethnography to explore the theology of the family in a segment of American evangelicalism. She has also published Christmas (IVP, 2023), a short historical and theological introduction to the liturgical season of Christmas. Her latest, Households of Faith: Practicing Family in the Kingdom of God (IVP, 2025) is a practical theology of family framed by the church and the kingdom of God.
Dr. McGowin is also a recipient of the Leland Ryken Award for Outstanding Teaching in the Humanities. She teaches popular courses in systematic and historical theology, as well as a variety of theology electives. She has also contributed popular articles to venues like Christianity Today and The Week, and regularly appears on podcasts and radio programs to talk about theology and our lived experience.
Dr. McGowin is also a priest in the Anglican diocese of Churches for the Sake of Others (C4SO) and serves with her husband, also a priest, in a local congregation. They live in Wheaton with their three teenage children and one elderly cat.
Education
University of Dayton
Ph.D., Theology, 2015
George W. Truett Theological Seminary
M.Div., Theology, 2007
Criswell College
B.A., Biblical Studies, 2003
Areas of Expertise
- Systematic Theology
- Practical Theology
- Marriage, Sex, and Family
- Ethnography
- Historical Theology
Personal Website
Select Publications
Households of Faith: Practicing Family in the Kingdom of God. Downers Grove, IL: IVP, forthcoming 2025.
Christmas: The Season of Life and Light. The Fullness of Time Series. Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2023.
“Gender Roles” in Practical Questions Every Student Asks, ed. Gary Burge and David Lauber (Grand Rapids: IVP, 2020), 33-48.
Quivering Families: The Quiverfull Movement and Evangelical Theology of the Family (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2018).
“Every Wife Has a Church in Her Home: The Family and the Church in the American Quiverfull Movement,” Ecclesial Practices, Vol. 4.1 (May 2017): 133-157.
“Praying for More: Mothers and Motherhood in the American Quiverfull Movement,” in Angels on Earth: Mothering, Religion, and Spirituality, edited by Vanessa Reimer (Bradford, ON: Demeter Press, 2016), 73-90.
“Eroticism and Pain in Mechthild of Magdeburg’s The Flowing Light,” New Blackfriars, Vol. 92, Issue 1041 (2011): 607-622.
Popular Writing
- “The Gospel According to Dungeons & Dragons", Christianity Today, August 12, 2022
- “Surviving the Pandemic with Dungeons & Dragons", The Week, April 26, 2022
- “Beware False Teachers with Good Doctrine and Bad Ethics", Christianity Today, September 16, 2021
- "Taking Scripture and Women’s Ordination Seriously", Anglican Pastor, November 18, 2019
- "If Women Can Be Saved, Then Women Can Be Priests", Anglican Pastor, September 26, 2019
- “A Gift of God”, Anglican Pastor, May 4, 2018
- "Christian Families and the Mission of God", The Telos Collective, March 14, 2018
Research
- The Communion of Saints
- The Family and Ecclesiology
- Gender and Theology
- Lived Religion
Professional Affiliations
- American Academy of Religion
- Conference on Faith and History
Courses Taught
- Christian Thought
- Roman Catholic Theology
- God & Evil
- Historical Theology
- Gender and Theology
- Systematic Theology