Dr. Woodbridge has taught history at the University of Toulouse, Northwestern University, and Hautes Etudes, Sorbonne, and his areas of expertise include evangelicalism, fundamentalism, the history of the Bible’s authority, the French enlightenment and religion, the French Hugenots, and the origins of higher criticism. He speaks fluent French.
He and his wife, Susan, reside in Lake Forest, Illinois. They have three children. In his spare time, Dr. Woodbridge enjoys music.
Prior to joining the faculty at Trinity, Dr. Pao taught at Harvard University as a Teaching Fellow in the area of the Greco-Roman World and Early Christianity. He has also served as a visiting professor at several institutions in Hong Kong, China, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. Dr. Pao is also involved in several Bible translation projects, and he is currently serving as the New Testament editor of the Tien Dao Bible Commentary series and consulting editor of the Zondervan Exegetical Commentary series.
His publications include Acts and the Isaianic New Exodus (Mohr Siebeck/Baker, 2002), Thanksgiving: An Investigation of a Pauline Theme (InterVarsity, 2002), Early Christian Voices: In Texts, Traditions, and Symbols (coeditor, Brill, 2003), After Imperialism: Christian Identity in China and the Global Evangelical Movement (coeditor, Pickwick, 2011), Commentary on Colossians and Philemon (Zondervan, 2012), Ascent into Heaven in Luke-Acts: New Explorations of Luke’s Narrative Hinge (coeditor, Fortress, 2016), and 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus (Brill, 2023). He has also published several works in Chinese, including a two-volume commentary on the Gospel of Luke (Tien Dao, 2008, 2009) and ten volumes in the Guides to Biblical Studies series (Tien Dao, 2015–).
He has contributed to a number of essay collections and reference works, including Dictionary for Theological Interpretation of Scripture (Baker, 2005), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary (vol. 10; Zondervan, 2007), New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible (Abingdon, 2008), Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament(Baker, 2007), The Baker Illustrated Bible Commentary (Baker, 2012), The NIV Zondervan Study Bible (Zondervan, 2015), Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception (de Gruyter, 2016), and Christian Higher Education: Teaching and Learning in the Evangelical Tradition (Crossway, 2018).
Eric Rivera is passionate for raising pastoral leaders and mobilizing the church to be on mission especially in an urban context. He is the Lead Pastor at The Brook (EFCA), a multiethnic church in Chicago. After having served as an Associate Pastor for five years, he and a devoted team planted The Brook in 2013. Eric, his wife Erikah, and their three children live in Chicago’s northwest side Montclare neighborhood.
