Dr. Dellinger is the 2026 Tinker Visiting Professor. She was also the Tinker Visiting Professor for Academic Year 2021-22. She is a resident of Oklahoma and a registered Chickasaw. A theologian and scholar, Dr. Dellinger was most recently a visiting faculty member at Philips Theological Seminary.
With regards to her research, Dr. Dellinger shared the following: “I take seriously the intersections and the irreconcilabilities between Native American Indian Theory and Christian Theology as they are embodied through a Native context/hermeneutic. I aspire to enrich the academy by offering scholarship that reflects the complexity of contemporary Native Peoples lives within and outside of the Christian faith.”
Dr. Dellinger sat down with Iliff Marketing Director, Daryl Schrieber. Here’s some of the conversation:
- Have you taught at Iliff before? Yes, this is my second time as the Tinker Visiting Professor at Iliff.
- What are the classes you want to teach? Native Women: Voices in Matriarchy/Settler Colonialism and Native Identities
- What else? I’m Chickasaw and Mexican American, from Oklahoma. I have a Bachelors’ in Special Education, MDiv from Phillips Theological, and a Ph. D. from Garret in Theology, History, and Ethics. I am primarily a constructive theologian, with an anti-imperial bent.
- How can we get to know your research? My dissertation was titled “Reclaiming Indigenous and Christian Narrative Epistemologies: Refusing US Settler Colonialism’s Theological Anthropology of sin.” Indigenous and Western epistemologies, heavily critiquing the idea of sin for Native Christians. The Holy Spirit is a better focus; it’s about liberation, not blame.