Email: [email protected]
First Year at Gordon-Conwell: 2025
Expertise: Preaching, Spiritual Formation, Literary Approaches to the Bible, American Religious History
Biography:
Dr. Emily Gierer serves as the co-lead pastor of St. Timothy’s Church in Storrs, Connecticut, where she guides worship, preaches regularly, disciples students, and develops spiritual formation initiatives. Her ministry has included more than a decade of pastoral leadership and campus ministry at the University of Connecticut, where she also replanted and led a chapter of InterVarsity’s Graduate Christian Fellowship for many years.
Dr. Gierer’s teaching and research interests bridge homiletics, spiritual formation, and early American religious history. As a board member of the Evangelical Homiletics Society, she founded and organized the Women in Homiletics Subcommittee to connect and encourage female preachers. She has presented and published widely on preaching, congregational engagement, and women’s religious writing.
In addition to her pastoral work, Dr. Gierer teaches in the English Department at the University of Connecticut, offering courses in American literature, women’s literature, and Biblical literature.
Dr. Gierer and her husband Vince live and minister in Connecticut with their two young daughters.
Degrees
- BA (Gordon College)
- MA (University of Connecticut)
- MDiv (Yale Divinity School)
- PhD (University of Connecticut)
- DMin (Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary)
Selected Publications
- “Wrestling with God and Language: The Conversion Narratives of New England Women.” The Influence of Jonathan Edwards in the Early American Republic: Patriotism, Exceptionalism, and the Pursuit of Happiness. Eds. John T. Lowe and Obbie Todd. Wipf & Stock, 2026.
- “Women in Homiletics: A Conversation with Dr. Sarah Han.” Organizer and Facilitator. Evangelical Homiletics Society Virtual Meeting. May 2025.
- “Teaching and Preaching: Utilizing Tools from the Classroom in the Pulpit.” Presentation. Evangelical Homiletics Society Conference. October 2022.
- “Active Preaching: Engaging the Congregation in the Preaching Act.” Presentation. Evangelical Homiletics Society Conference. October 2021.
- “Hannah Edwards and Dying Women: Changing Perspectives on Female Death During the Enlightenment.” Jonathan Edwards and the Dark Side of the Enlightenment. Eds. Daniel N. Gullotta and John T. Lowe. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2020.
- Monstrous Confessions: Early American Women and the Dangers of Divine Revelation.” Jonathan Edwards Studies 7.1 (2017): 2-25.
- “Explaining Deconversion from Christianity: A Study of Online Narratives.” Journal of Religion and Society. 13 (2011). Co-written with Professors Bradley R. E. Wright, Dina Giovanelli, and Mark Evan Edwards.