Elizabeth “Libbie” Schrader Polczer successfully defended her dissertation on April 25, 2023 and her PhD degree and Certificate in College Teaching will be conferred in September 2023. Her specialty is Early Christianity, and her dissertation was entitled “’Those Who Love Me Will Keep My Word’: Narrative Variants in New Testament Gospel Stories.” Dr. Jennifer Knust chaired her committee, and other members of the committee included Drs. Mark Goodacre (Duke), William Johnson (Duke), Bart Ehrman (UNC-Chapel Hill), Nicola Denzey Lewis (Claremont), and Tommy Wasserman (Orebro School of Theology, Sweden).
Perhaps the most interesting thing about this budding scholar is how her journey began. Schrader Polczer started out as a pop-rock singer-songwriter. One day she was praying in a garden dedicated to the Virgin Mary in Brooklyn, New York. While praying, she sensed a response to a question she posed, “Maybe you should talk to Mary Magdalene about this.” Following this experience, she wrote a song called “Magdalene,” and was spurred to learn ancient Greek in order to read ancient biblical texts. She has now learned not only Greek, but Coptic, Syriac, Latin, and Sanskrit as well as modern French and German in her quest to learn more about this mysterious biblical figure. She argues that Mary Magdalene’s role may have been downplayed by New Testament scribes, and Schrader Polczer’s work strives to uncover textual alterations to early manuscripts, examine existing and newly discovered Christian texts, and draw logical conclusions about her discoveries and how this might affect our understanding of Mary’s leadership role in the early Church.
Before coming to Duke, Dr. Schrader Polczer was a student at Boston University School of Theology. After completing a year there, she moved to Durham to continue studying with Dr. Jennifer Knust, who had taken a position in Religious Studies at Duke University.
During her studies at Duke, Schrader Polczer has distinguished herself by winning multiple awards and fellowships. These awards include the DAAD Grant to study “Theology and German” in Mainz, Germany; The Kenan Graduate Fellowship in Ethics; The Nancy A. Hardesty Memorial Scholarship; and the prized Anne Firor Scott Public Scholars Fellowship. In addition, she was a Graduate Affiliate in the Manuscript Migration Lab at the Franklin Humanities Institute at Duke University as well as a Duke Preparing Future Faculty Fellow. She has been a guest lecturer and taught extensively at multiple institutions, and presented papers at numerous conferences.
Schrader Polczer’s research into Mary Magdalene has drawn broad interest around the world, and has had press coverage in at least 7 publications. Once known for her solo albums, she has now become another kind of “rock star,” this time in the world of religious studies. As she moves on to her next challenge of being Assistant Professor of New Testament at Villanova University, we here at Duke’s Graduate Program in Religion will be cheering.
Graduate Program in Religion