Prof Dermot Nestor

Executive Dean, Faculty of Theology and Philosophy, ACU

Professor Nestor’s theological expertise is primarily in the discipline of Biblical studies and with a specific focus on hermeneutical strategies that are framed by the key concept of identity. This work is particularly focused upon readings of scripture that are attentive to the Voice of the Child and the development of action-research and learning designs that position children’s voices, concerns and understandings as the focus of pedagogical strategies within school systems.

Dermot Nestor is the current Head of School for Theology at ACU and is based at the Strathfield Campus. He joined the Faculty of Theology & Philosophy in July of 2011 from the School of Religions & Theology, Trinity College Dublin where he completed his B.A (Hons) and where he received his PhD. This dissertation, on the theme of Israelite ethnic identity, was conducted under the supervision of Prof. A.D.H. Mayes and was supported through a prestigious Government of Ireland Postgraduate Fellowship. In addition to teaching at Trinity College, he has also taught at several other institutes including Katholikie Universiteit Leuven, and SI. Patrick's College, Dublin. He has served as an elected member of the Royal Irish Academy's Classical and Near Eastern Studies Committee, as well as several international scholarly communities based at Trinity College Dublin.

Selected publications

• Nestor, D. (2015). Merneptah’s ‘Israel’and the absence of origins in biblical scholarship. Currents in Biblical Research, 13(3), 293-329. Link: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1476993X14534792
• Nestor, D. (2013). We Are Family: Deuteronomy 14 and the Boundaries of an Israelite Identity. The Bible and Critical Theory, 9(1-2). Link: http://novaojs.newcastle.edu.au/ojsbct/index.php/bct/article/view/550
• Nestor, D. (2013). 'If not now, when? the Ecological Potential of Isaiah's New Things'. In M. Coloe (ed.) Creation is Groaning: Biblical and Theological Perspectives. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, pp.33-56. Link: https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Creation_is_Groaning.html?id=uCV-5gNltUAC&redir_esc=y
• Nestor, D. (2013). 'Somewhere under the Rainbow: Noah's Altar and the Archaeology of Cult in Ancient Israel’, inJ. Silverman (ed.) Opening Heaven's Floodgates: The Genesis Flood Narrative, its Context and Reception. New Jersey, USA: Gorgias Press, pp. 267-98. Link: https://www.gorgiaspress.com/opening-heavens-floodgates