Dr. Maxwell’s areas of research interest include NewTestament studies, especially literary and rhetorical methodologies; biblicalinterpretation; and the history of the Christian church. She is currentlyworking on projects that consider the audience’s formation and participation inhearing the biblical story, both in ancient times and the modern world.  She has particular interest in biblicalstorytelling, and is certified through the Network of Biblical Storytellers.

Her dissertation project, Hearing Between the Lines (T&TClark, Library of New Testament Studies, 2010), explores the audience's activerole in receiving – and telling – the story of Luke-Acts. Dr. Maxwell haspublished several articles on performance criticism, interpretive methodologies,and ancient rhetoric. She has presented papers at regional and nationalmeetings of the Society of Biblical Literature on topics of characterization inthe gospels, rhetorical features of ancient narrative, performance criticism,and the role of the audience in ancient narratives. She has also presented ontopics such as biblical storytelling and oral culture.  At PBA, Dr. Maxwell enjoys visiting withstudents inside and outside of class, especially mentoring women one-on-one asthey seek to mature in their faith. She regularly greets new students and theirfamilies when they visit the campus, and she works to make new students’transition to PBA as smooth as possible. Prior to coming to PBA, she served asthe director of undergraduate academic programs at the South Texas School ofChristian Studies in Corpus Christi, Texas, and lectured in New Testament,Greek, and church history for programs offered by Howard Payne University andLogsdon Seminary. She is married to Dr. Nathan Maxwell, who also teaches in theSchool of Ministry.  When not in class ormeeting with students, Dr. Maxwell enjoys scuba diving, baking, readingfiction, and playing cars with her two young sons.