Lynn Japinga’s religion courses focus on women’s studies and American religious history. She teaches Fierce and Faithful: Women in the Bible; Christian Feminism; Recent American Religion; Female, Male, Human (a senior seminar); and the Women and Gender Studies keystone course.

Dr. Japinga is a graduate of Hope College, where she started out pre-med but soon became absorbed by American religious history. While finishing her dissertation on social thought and action in the Reformed Church of America, she taught at Western Seminary. She is an ordained minister in the RCA and has served as a pastor and interim pastor of a number of RCA congregations. She joined the Hope College faculty in 1992.

areas of expertise

• American religious history
• The Reformed Church in America
• Women in the Bible
• Women in American religious history

education

• Ph.D., history, Union Seminary, 1992
• M.Div., Princeton Theological Seminary, 1984
• B.A., religion, Hope College, 1981

books

• From Daughters to Disciples: Women's Stories from the New Testament, Westminster John Knox Press, 2021
• From Widows to Warriors: Women’s Stories from the Old Testament, Westminster John Knox Press, 2020
• Preaching the Women of the Old Testament: Who They Were and Why They Matter, Westminster John Knox Press, 2017
• Loyalty and Loss: The Reformed Church in America, 1945–1994, Eerdmans, 2013
• Feminism and Christianity: An Essential Guide, Abingdon Press, 1999 

outside the college

Dr. Japinga loves to exercise, especially biking, running and swimming. When not in motion she enjoys reading and dog-sitting her daughter’s stunningly beautiful golden retriever, Wrigley.