Kevin Sullivan; BA, 1994; MA, 1998

Field of Study: BA in Ancient Civilizations and Biblical Studies and Economics, MA in Near Eastern Studies - Ancient Civilizations and Biblical Studies

Graduation Year: 1994 (BA), 1998 (MA)

Born and raised near Detroit, MI, Professor Sullivan did his undergraduate studies at the University of Michigan (B.A. 1994).  He holds graduate degrees from the University of Notre Dame (M.A., 1995), the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies (Dipl., 1996), the University of Michigan (M.A., 1998), and the University of Oxford (D. Phil., 2003).  He taught at Marquette University (Milwaukee, WI), and has been at Illinois Wesleyan University (Bloomington, IL), since 2006.  Professor Sullivan was Chair of the Religious Studies Department from 2010-2016. He has chaired the Faculty Development Committee (FDC), served on the Strategic Planning and Budgeting Committee (SPBC), and last year he was the Chair of the Council on University Programs and Policy Procedures (CUPP). This year, Prof. Sullivan takes over as the Associate Dean of Curricular and Faculty Development at Illinois Wesleyan University.

Professor Sullivan teaches classes on the Bible, late Second Temple Judaism, the New Testament and Christian Origins, Apocryphal and Pseudepigraphal texts, as well as Christian History more generally.

In his research and publications Professor Sullivan specializes in ancient Jewish and Christian Mysticism with a focus on angelology and demonology. 

Professor Sullivan is the author of Wrestling with Angels: A Study of the Relationship between Angels and Humans in the Ancient Jewish Literature and the New Testament (Brill, 2004).  He is the author of several chapters and peer-reviewed articles on the topic of angelology.  He recently co-edited (with colleague Jonathan Knight) a volume in honor of Oxford Professor Christopher Rowland entitled, The Open Mind: Essays in Honour of Christopher Rowland(Bloomsbury/T&T Clark, 2015).  Professor Sullivan is also the author of many book reviews for journals like the Catholic Biblical Quarterly and The Expository Times.

Professor Sullivan is currently a steering committee member on Society of Biblical Literature's Esotericism and Mysticism in Antiquity Group.  He is also an active member of the Catholic Biblical Association of America, and he is a member of the Advisory Board for the journal Henoch.

About his experience in the Department of Near Eastern Studies, Professor Sullivan says, "My degree from UM was and is the foundation for my education and my career.  As a Professor of Religion, who specializes in the New Testament, the spark of my curiosity began with a single NES course, "Jesus and the Gospels" that I took as a sophomore at UM. I continued my interest in Biblical Studies throughout my education and on to today."