The Rev. Dr. Robert B. Robinson, Professor of Old Testament and Hebrew at the Seminary at Philadelphia, has been awarded a Faculty Chair by the Seminary.

The announcement of the award came at the fall meeting of the Seminary's Board of Trustees. Professor Robinson, a resident of Philadelphia's Mt. Airy section, was presented with the Anna Burkhalter Chair in Old Testament and Hebrew. Dr. Robinson shares the Chair with Dr. Robert Bornemann, the Seminary's Professor Emeritus in Old Testament and Hebrew.

Dr. Robinson has been a member of the faculty at LTSP since 1989. He has been a full professor since 1993. His academic interest lies especially in the theory and practice of Biblical interpretation, particularly in the application of current literary techniques to the interpretation of the Bible. "Behind my interest is a desire to see the Bible read with understanding and confidence by all Christians," he says. "Approaching the Bible as a consummately profound literary work allows the sort of disciplined observation and probing discussion that leads to a deeper understanding of the Word of God for our lives."

Dr. Robinson received his B.A. from Ursinus College in 1969 and his Master of Divinity degree from the Yale Divinity School in 1974. He was awarded a Ph.D. from Yale University in 1982.

He has been engaged in writing a commentary on the book of Genesis, which will appear in a commentary series from Sheffield Academic Press in England. The commentary uses such familiar literary terms as character, plot, theme and allusion to knit together a holistic picture of the Book. He is also a scholar of the history of the interpretation of the Book of Genesis, attempting to discern what earlier readers have thought of as "important in each passage and how that message spoke to the life of their community of faith."

At Philadelphia Seminary, Dr. Robinson has been much involved as a leader of the Seminary's Globalization Program, which seeks to immerse students in other cultures for learning to broaden their perspectives. In this capacity, he has led trips to Indonesia and Johns Island, SC. He's also involved in the Seminary's Institute for Ecumenical and Interreligious Dialogue.

Before joining the LTSP faculty, Dr. Robinson was an Assistant Professor of Religion at the University of Missouri for six years. He's also served as a Visiting Professor at St. John's Seminary in Collegeville, MN (summer program), as a Visiting Professor at the Yale Divinity School and as an Instructor at Yale University.

Dr. Robinson and his wife, Joanna, have three children, Samuel, Timothy and Phoebe.