Faculty and Staff

Israel McGrew, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Sacred Scripture

Biography

Dr. McGrew is an Old Testament scholar and specializes in the Book of Job. He is also especially interested in bringing Biblical Studies into a deeper dialogue with the Church’s traditional, Christological readings of the Old Testament. He began studying theology and the Bible in its original languages to prepare for the ministry, and he remains focused on fostering prayer through biblical piety.

In April 2025, Dr. McGrew authored an article with Catholic Biblical Quarterly titled “The Hermeneutics of ברך: Septimal Structures, Alien Significations, and the Meaning of Creation in the Book of Job.” Another notable piece was published in 2024 with Nova et Vetera, titled, “Divine Repentance or Pedagogy? On the Rhetoric of Divine Repentance in 1 Samuel, Exodus, and Genesis.” He is currently completing a book on Job’s parabolic dramatization of Israel’s scriptural and mythological traditions titled, Job and the Riddle of Hebrew Scripture: Allegory, Mythology, and the Meaning of History. His forthcoming articles include additional studies of Job and reading Isaiah 7–11 with St. Thomas.

israel.mcgrew@augustine.edu

Education

  • Ph.D. Biblical Studies; Marquette University, 2021
  • M.T.S. Theology; University of Notre Dame, 2014
  • B.A. History, Biblical Languages; Concordia University Irvine, 2012

Courses

  • Salvation History
The Augustine Institute Graduate School is committed to the pursuit of wisdom in service of Catholic mission. All of our academic programs therefore seek, first, to allow students to make their own “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2:3), which are found in Christ and passed down in the Sacred Tradition of the Catholic Church. Second, our programs prepare students to hand these treasures on to others effectively through evangelization and catechesis.