MARGARET EATON

Thesis, Dissertation, Capstone Writing Consultant
Religious Studies | Theology | Hebrew | Greek | Old Testament | New Testament
The Bible as Literature | Bible History | Exegesis | Linguistics

DR. EATON is a distance educator in theological education and a translation consultant with the World Bible Translation Center.

Margaret is an American transplanted to New Zealand. She specialises in working with students for whom English is a second language. Her students cover an eclectic mix of topics (e.g., evil and repentance in the novels of George Eliot,  religious expression among Hmong people, teaching English as a second language in Canadian secondary schools). She helps students from start to finish: topic selection, research proposals, final drafts, and preparation for comprehensive exams and the oral defense.

Margaret started consulting students through distance education in the 1980s, when it was wholly print-based. Now she regularly Skypes with students on the other side of the world.

Margaret has specific expertise in the following areas:

Classical Hebrew (to an advanced level), Old Testament issues, such as oral tradition, literature, history, exegesis, theology.

Koine Greek (to an advanced level), New Testament issues, such as “from spoken story to written Word”, history, exegesis, theology.

Jews in the Ancient Near East

New Testament world, with emergent religious and social forces that shaped the early development of the Christian church.

Religious Studies, with a speciality in Western religions, focusing on the many features the Abrahamic traditions hold in common (e.g. revelation, written scripture, source, ethical considerations, after-life, prophecy).

History of biblical interpretation, including its influence on social issues (e.g., slavery), sexual issues (e.g., contraception), and ecological issues (e.g., destruction of species’ habitat).

Biblical texts in the light of linguistics, enabling a deep understanding of the richness found there. For example, semantics, including the historical development of word meaning in association with pragmatics to illuminate aspects of social history, both of which throw invaluable light on exegetical questions.

Issues in orality and literacy, comprising, for example, stylistics, the way information is transmitted in oral cultures, and comparison of biblical tradition with other orally transmitted traditions.