Eric Vanden Eykel

I was born and raised in and around Dallas, TX. My childhood was relatively normal.

After graduating from Southern Methodist University in 2003, I moved to Atlanta, GA where I attended seminary at Emory University. I received my Master of Divinity in 2006, and afterward I spent a year teaching GRE preparation for the Princeton Review. In 2007, I moved to Milwaukee, WI to attend Marquette University. I graduated in 2009 with a Master of Arts in Biblical Theology, with a focus in New Testament. I began PhD studies in the Fall of 2009, specializing in Judaism and Christianity in Antiquity, and I’m currently starting my second year of coursework.

I’m asked quite frequently by friends and family alike, “Why are you still in school.” This is a fair question, to which I don’t really have a good answer. The truth is that religion has always fascinated me, and when I was in college I decided that I wanted to spend my life studying it and attempting to teach others about it. Each step along my academic journey has granted new insight and experiences, and although the road has been long and torturous thus far, I wouldn’t trade any of it.

Apart from being a student, which consumes a great deal of my time, I enjoy being a husband, playing with my dog, cooking, photography, and all varieties of scotch/whiskey.