Matthew Anderson
Matthew Anderson holds a Gatto Chair in Christian Studies at St FX in Religious Studies (New Testament; Gender; Pauline studies; Bible and Film; Religion & Environment). He is also an affiliate assistant professor at Concordia University, Montreal. Matthew was born to settlers on Treaty 4 territory. His PhD in Religious Studies is from McGill University (1999). His most recent books are Prophets of Love: The Unlikely Kinship of Leonard Cohen and the Apostle Paul (McGill-Queens University Press, 2023); The Good Walk: Creating New Paths on Traditional Prairie Trails (University of Regina Press, 2024); Our Home and Treaty Land (with Ray Aldred, 2022); and Pairings: The Bible and Booze (Novalis, 2021; in French as Apocalypse et gin tonic). Matthew is an ordained Lutheran minister of the ELCIC Eastern Synod. His research interests are Pauline studies, pilgrimage studies, gender, and decolonizing/aware-settler biblical studies. Matthew has walked thousands of kilometres on pilgrimage trails in Europe and North America.
Honours
Matthew’s public-facing scholarship has resulted in over 360,000 reads of his articles for Narwhal, The Tyee, Salon, and The Conversation: Canada. In 2020 Matthew was named a “Newsmaker of the Year” by Concordia University Montreal.
Matthew is a recipient of a SSHRC grant for his research “Before the Fact: How Paul’s Rhetoric Made History.” He is also recipient of two Canada Council grants, in 2020-21 and 2021-22, for emerging fiction.
In 2016 Matthew was asked by CBC Radio One Montreal for a feature interview as a “Canadian Creative” and asked to share his favourite playlist. The interview can be found here: https://somethinggrand.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/my-playlist_-montreal-pilgrimage-leader-matthew-anderson.mp3
Books:
Someone Else’s Saint: How a Scottish Pilgrimage Led to Nova Scotia (Pottersfield Press, April 2025)
The Good Walk: Creating New Paths on Traditional Prairie Trails (University of Regina Press, 2024). https://uofrpress.ca/Books/T/The-Good-Walk
Our Home and Treaty Land. Revised and Expanded Edition, co-authored with Dr. Raymond Aldred of Vancouver School of Theology (Friesen Press, 2024)
Prophets of Love: The Unlikely Kinship of Leonard Cohen and the Apostle Paul (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2023). https://www.mqup.ca/prophets-of-love-products-9780228018643.php
Pairings: The Bible and Booze (version francaise: Apocalypse et gin tonic; Novalis 2021/2022) https://en.novalis.ca/products/pairings and https://fr.novalis.ca/products/apocalypse-et-gin-tonic (CBC interview about the book here)
Journal Articles:
2024 “Walls, Paths, Gardens, and a Gravediggers’ Pub,” CrossCurrents 74, 1 (2024): 36-47 (University of North Carolina Press), ed. S. Brent Plate.
2022 “’One of the Boys’: Jerome’s Fabulous Frontier Masculinity,” The Bible & Critical Theory 18, 1 (2022)
2022 “Ecumenism and the ‘Balloon Theory’ of Christendom,” One in Christ 55, 2 (2022): 177-180.
2022 “Le pèlerinage comme expérience de repentir à travers l’apprentissage corporel,” Échanges 6, 6 (novembre 2022): 14-19.
2021 “The Promise and Peril of Walking Indigenous Territorial Recognitions carried out by Settlers,” International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage. 9, 2 (2021): Article 7. Co-authored: Ken Wilson.
2019 “‘Aware-Settler’ Biblical Studies: Breaking Claims of Textual Ownership,” 42-68 in Journal for Interdisciplinary Biblical Studies 1:1 (2019): 42-68.
2019 “Strangers on the Land: What “Settler-Aware” Biblical Studies Learns from Indigenous Methodologies,” in Critical Theology 1:2 (Winter 2019): 10-14.
2019 “Walking to be Some Body: desire and diaspora on the St-Olaf Way,” in International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage 7:1. 63-76.
2019 “Luther and the Trajectories of Western Pilgrimage,” in International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage 7:1. 53-62.
2018 “Post-Reformation Christian Pilgrimage and the Globalization of Sentiment,” in Theoforum 48/1-2. 11-22
2017 “The Tough Wedge: Reformation Now and Onward,” in Consensus 38:2, 5
2015 “The Curious Voyage of Christ: katábasis, anábasis, and the New Testament,” in Les Études Classiques. 83:1. 385-396.
2014 “De Vieux-Montréal à Kahnawa:ké: the story of an urban pilgrimage between settler and aboriginal cultures,” in Urban Pilgrimage, Room One Thousand, University of California, Berkeley. 3,3 (2014): 51-84. Co-authored: S. Terreault. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3j47g590
Collections Edited:
2019 “Pilgrim Bodies: An Anatomy of Christian and Post-Christian Intentional Movement.” Special Issue of the International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage 7/1. Issue editors: Sara Parks, Sara Terreault, and Matthew Anderson.
Book Chapters:
2024 “The Violence of North American Settler Use of Biblical Texts” in The Bible and Violence, eds. Joanna Stiebert et. al. T&T Clark, 2024.
2024 “’Unhomeness’ and Pilgrimage,” in Pilgrimage in the 21st Century, eds. Ian S. McIntosh et. al. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2024.
2024 “Judeophobia and Pauline Scholarship,” in Judeophobia and the New Testament, eds. Sarah Rollens, Meredith Warren, and Eric Vanden Eykel. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2024.
2024 “Failed Connectivities: Paul’s collection and his final pilgrimage to Jerusalem” in Pilgrims in Place, Pilgrims in Motion: Sacred Travel in the Ancient Mediterranean, eds. Anna Collar and Troels Myrup Kristensen. 159-178. Århus: Århus University Press, 2024.
2024 “’One of the Boys’: Jerome’s Fabulous Frontier Masculinity,” in Constructions of Gender in Late Antiquity, eds. Shayna Sheinfeld, Juni Hoppe, and Kathy Ehrensperger, 161-194. Lanham: Lexington Fortress, 2024.
2023 “The Promise and Peril of Walking Indigenous Territorial Recognitions carried out by Settlers,” in New Pilgrimage Routes and Trails, eds. Ian S. McIntosh, Daniel Olson and Dane Munro, 98-120. Lausanne: Peter Lang, 2023.
2021 « De Concordia à Kahnawà:ke en passant par l’Europe et la Saskatchewan. » 141-163, Éric Laliberté and Michel O’Neill, eds. Pèlerinage, marche pèlerine et marche de longue durée au Québec. Laval : Les Presses de l’Université Laval, 2021.
2020 “Settler-Aware” Pilgrimage and Reconciliation: The Treaty Four Canadian Context,” in Peace Journeys: A New Direction in Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Research, eds. Ian S. McIntosh, Nour Farra Haddad and Dane Munro, 98-120. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Press.
2018 “Pilgrimage and the Challenging of a Canadian Foundational Myth.” Pilgrimage in Practice: Narration, Reclamation and Healing. 148-164. Eds. Ian S. McIntosh, E. Moore Quinn and Vivienne Keely. CABI Publishing.
2014 “The First Cut is the Deepest: Masculinity and Circumcision in the First Century,” in Biblical Masculinities Foregrounded. 228-244. Eds. Peter-Ben Smit and Oviudu Creanga. Sheffield-Phoenix Press, co-authored: K.B. Neutel.
Art Exhibitions Co-curated
2023 With StFX Art Gallery Director Dr Andrea Terry: 1001 Lights, a multi-track video dance installation from Mouvement Perpétuel, a Montreal based artistic company. Included organizing the show and finding internal and external funding of $8437.00 to sponsor an interactive artist’s talk Thurs Nov 23, 2023, followed by the exhibition at the Gallery.
Encyclopedia Entries:
2024 “Aware-Settler Hermeneutics,” for the Society of Biblical Literature public pedagogy website Bible Odyssey, September 2024. https://getrevising.bibleodyssey.com/articles/aware-settler-hermeneutics/
2024 “2 Corinthians 11:21b-30: Credentials of God’s Calling,” Visual Commentary on Scripture, November 2024.
2020 “Paul and Pauline Epistles,” (solicited article) for the The Encyclopedia of Ancient History. Wiley Online Library. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah05138.pub2
Documentary Films:
2013 Under the North Star. https://vimeo.com/117811674
2012 Something Grand. https://vimeo.com/118243418
Select Keynote and Invited Presentations
2024 Public Lecture: “The Mystery of Ninian,” for Antigonish Heritage Museum, April 28, 2024.
2024 Keynote: “Prophets of Love: The Unlikely Kinship of Leonard Cohen and the Apostle Paul,” webinar speaker for CSSR (Canadian Society for Studies in Religion; Advancing Studies in Religion Book Series), Jan 25, 2024.
2023 “Mettre l'accent sur la terre, l'histoire et la relation tout en guidant les pèlerins sur le Camino Nova Scotia” Journées d’étude: De Quoi Le Pèlerinage Est-Il Le Chemin?, 24-25 octobre, Université Laval, QC.
2023 Keynote, “2e colloque du Réseau québécois pour les études pèlerines” (Second annual meeting of the Quebec network for pilgrimage studies) Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), Montreal.
2023 Keynote, Atlantic Conference gathering of the Eastern Synod Lutheran and NSPEI Anglican clergy: “The Midnight Guide to the Bible.”
2023 Keynote, Eastern Synod Rostered Leader gathering, Mt Carmel, Niagara Falls, “The Midnight Guide to the Bible.”
2023 Keynote, “A Retreat of our Own,” Sylvan Lake, AB, on “Pairings: The Bible and Booze.”
2022 Guest lecture, “Pilgrimage and Pilgrimage Studies,” Mount Allison University, NB, November 2022.
2021 ‘One of the Boys’: Jerome’s Fabulous Frontier Masculinity, Nangaroni meeting, Enoch Seminar, July 2021.
2021 Guest panelist at the opening of the Centre for Spirituality and Media at Martin Luther University College, Wilfred Laurier University, Waterloo ON.
2020 Walking Territorial Recognitions of Indigenous Lands (co-presented with Ken Wilson, University of Regina). Sacred Journeys Conference (online). https://vimeo.com/546552868
2020 Strangers on the Textual Land: Aware-Settler Biblical Studies, University of Nottingham Theology and Religious Studies Research Seminar Series, Nottingham, UK. March 13 (online).
2019 The Pauline Collection in Light of Shavu’ot in Second Temple Judaism, The Biblical Seminar, March 29, University of Nottingham, UK.
2019 Strangers on the Land: What Biblical Studies in the Canadian Settler Context Can Learn from Indigenous Methodologies, Research Seminar for the Sheffield Institute for Interdisciplinary Biblical Studies, February 18, Sheffield University, UK.
Public-Facing Articles (Selection)
2023 “I’m your man: How Leonard Cohen’s life, poetry and song make him a prophet of love in a particularly dark midwinter,” in The Conversation Canada, Dec 13, 2023, edited by Susannah Schmidt. https://theconversation.com/im-your-man-how-leonard-cohens-life-poetry-…;
2021 “Apocalypse, Booze and Christmas: An Ancient ABC.” The Tyee. https://thetyee.ca/Culture/2021/12/22/Apocalypse-Booze-Christmas-Ancient-ABC/
2020 “’Life of Brian’: Terry Jones’s Legacy of a Surprisingly Historical Jesus,” in The Conversation: Canada http://theconversation.com/life-of-brian-terry-joness-legacy-of-a-surprisingly-historical-jesus-130582
2020 “The Good Place: Ethics Comedy Asks if There’s a Second Chance at Life,” in Salon https://www.salon.com/2019/11/30/the-good-place-ethics-comedy-asks-if-theres-a-second-chance-at-life_partner/
2019 “Learning the Land: Walking the Talk of Indigenous Land Acknowledgements,” in The Conversation: Canada: https://theconversation.com/learning-the-land-walking-the-talk-of-indigenous-land-acknowledgements-125369
2019 “A Blanket Argument for Empathy” in Friends of Canadian Broadcasting: https://friends.ca/explore/article/a-blanket-argument-for-empathy/#site-pages
2019 “The Man Who Painted Jesus” in ArtCritique: https://www.art-critique.com/en/2019/07/the-man-who-painted-jesus/
2019 “Why Canadians Need the Right to Roam” in The Narwhal: https://thenarwhal.ca/right-to-roam-canada/
Select Media
2024 The Final Draft: A TV series about authors, illustrators and the publishing industry in the Maritimes. On June 24, 2024 a documentary crew of four from Skye Larke Productions spent the day interviewing me about my writing, for an upcoming episode in this series.
2024 CBC Radio One Saskatchewan Blue Sky (noon show) with Leisha Grebinski, May 13, 2024: CBC Radio One, Saskatchewan, Blue Sky with Leisha Grebinski (May 13, 2024): https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-189-blue-sky/clip/16067056-the-good-walk-prairie-pilgrimages?share=true
2024 CBC Radio One Saskatchewan Morning Edition, with Stefani Langenegger, April 26, 2024: https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-66-the-morning-edition-sask/clip/16059200-the-good-walk-author-chronicles-journey-across-prairie
2024 [TV interview] CTV Montreal Pulse News interview with Mutsumi Takahashi on pilgrimage March 4, 2024: https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/video/c2879275-what-does-it-mean-to-go-on-a-pilgrimage-
2024 Canadian Society for the Study of Religion. Presentation on Prophets of Love: The Unlikely Kinship of Leonard Cohen and the Apostle Paul https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSXmtTg90uM
2024 Beer Christianity (podcast), with host Jonty Langley: https://beerchristianity.libsyn.com/leonard-cohen-and-saint-paul-matthew-anderson-pauline-scholar
2023 What Matters Most (podcast), with host John W. Martens https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/a-conversation-with-matthew-r-and…
2023 CBC Radio One Montreal “All in a Weekend” interview with host Sonali Karnick, “Prophets of Love: The Unlikely Kinship of Leonard Cohen and the Apostle Paul.” https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-78/clip/16020875
2023 Zoomer Radio Toronto, interview: https://www.zoomerradio.ca/podcasts/fight-back-on-zoomer-radio-podcast/…;
2023 (in French) Je Marche Partout, Radio Ville Marie, episode: “Épisode 1 – Vers la réconciliation : le pèlerinage de décolonisation” host: Denis Chagnon. https://jemarchepartout.com/emissions/episode-1-vers-la-reconciliation-…;
2021 [TV interview] CTV Montreal News [link]
2021 [newspaper interview] Winnipeg Free Press “Drinking in Scripture” (feature religion article) https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/life/faith/2021/11/27/drinking-in-scripture
2019 [Article] “Walking Territorial Recognitions,” The Concordian. http://theconcordian.com/2019/10/pilgrimage-to-montreal/
