Tutorial Staff

Jason Byassee is director of the Center for Theology, Writing and Media at Duke Divinity School and special assistant to Dean L. Gregory Jones. He is also an executive director of Leadership Education at Duke Divinity, an initiative funded by Lilly Endowment Inc. Byassee is a principal editor, writer and blogger for Faith & Leadership, the online magazine of Leadership Education at Duke Divinity.

He is also a contributing editor to Christian Century magazine, where he was an assistant editor from 2004-2008. His work has also appeared in Christianity Today, Books & Culture, Sojourners, and First Things. He is author of Reading Augustine: A Guide to Confessions (Cascade, 2006), of An Introduction to the Sayings of the Desert Fathers (Cascade, 2007) and of Praise Seeking Understanding: Reading the Psalms with Augustine (Eerdmans, 2007). His work has been recognized with several awards from the Associated Church Press and in 2007 with the American Academy of Religion’s first place award for newswriting for outlets with circulations under 100,000.

Bradley Burroughs earned his Master of Divinity degree from Duke Divinity School in 2006 and is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the Graduate Division of Religion at Emory University.  He has served as a teaching assistant for many classes in both Emory College and Candler School of Theology and has also instructed multiple sections of a masters-level course that is designed to develop critical thinking and writing abilities.  Brad’s field of academic study is Christian theological ethics, and his main interests concern the political nature and implications of the Christian faith.  He has served as the pastor of a rural United Methodist Church in western New York, and presently lives in Durham with his wife Presian, who is a Th.D. student at the Divinity School, and their dog.

Jill Hicks-Keeton is a New Testament Ph.D. student in the Graduate Program in Religion.   She completed her MTS at the Divinity School in 2007.

Scott Ryan is a graduate of Duke Divinity School, receiving a Master of Divinity and a Master of Theology. He has experience precepting Introduction to Old Testament Interpretation and New Testament Interpretation at the Divinity School. Scott's primary research interests focus on New Testament, First-Century history, and contextual interpretation. He also enjoys football, turnip greens, the Chicago cubs, art, reading, the Washington Redskins, and turning off the lights when leaving a room.

Tony Willms is a graduate of Duke Divinity School, receiving both a Master of Theological Studies in 2005, and a Master of Theology in 2007.  He has served as preceptor for a number of courses since the fall of 2006.  He is married with two children.  His interests include Christian ethics, theological anthropology, Christian education and formation, woodworking, and coaching youth baseball.  He worships at New Sharon United Methodist Church in Hillsborough, where he also serves as Youth Ministry Coordinator.