Gail Radcliffe O'Day (2 December 1954 – 22 September 2018) was an American biblical scholar.

Early life and education

O'Day was born in Muhlenberg, New Jersey, on 2 December 1954, while her father Arthur F. O'Day served in the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

. Upon the end of his military service, Arthur and his wife Sally Wilcox O'Day moved to her hometown, Scituate, Massachusetts. The family moved to Chappaqua, New York, in 1965, where O'Day was a student at Horace Greeley High School. She earned a bachelor's of arts degree at Brown University in 1976, followed by a Master of Theological Studies from

Harvard Divinity School Harvard Divinity School (HDS) is one of the constituent schools of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school's mission is to educate its students either in the religious studies, academic study of religion or for leadership role ...

and a Ph.D. in

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

from

Emory University Emory University is a private university, private research university in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It was founded in 1836 as Emory College by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory. Its main campu ...

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/ref> O'Day's research on the

focused on the Gospel of John.

Career

O'Day was an ordained minister of the United Church of Christ. She taught at Hamilton College and Eden Theological Seminary before joining the Candler School of Theology faculty from 1987 to 2010. O'Day assumed the deanship of the Wake Forest University School of Divinity from Bill J. Leonard in 2010. She resigned the position effective 30 June 2018. O'Day was diagnosed with glioblastoma in 2015, and died of the disease on 22 September 2018.

Selected works

* ''Revelation in the fourth Gospel : narrative mode and theological claim'', 1986 * ''The Word disclosed : John's story and narrative preaching'', 1987 * ''The Word disclosed : preaching the Gospel of John'', 2002 * ''John'', 2006 * ''Preaching the Revised common lectionary : a guide'', 2007 * ''Theological Bible commentary'', 2009

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:ODay, Gail R. 1954 births 2018 deaths Deaths from brain cancer in the United States Deaths from cancer in North Carolina American biblical scholars Wake Forest University faculty Harvard Divinity School alumni Brown University alumni Emory University alumni Emory University faculty Hamilton College (New York) faculty United Church of Christ ministers American university and college faculty deans People from Plainfield, New Jersey People from Scituate, Massachusetts People from Chappaqua, New York 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers Female biblical scholars Women deans (academic) People from Union County, New Jersey American women academics