Independent Scholar
Rachel Wilkowski is a researcher specializing in biblical interpretation, with a particular interest in how scriptural narratives are adapted, visually represented, and retold in children’s Bibles. She serves as Family Ministries Director at St. Peter’s Fireside in Vancouver, where she brings theological curiosity into children’s faith formation and community life. She is pursuing doctoral studies (non-residential) at Trinity College Dublin, where her dissertation investigates the interpretive influences shaping retellings of Genesis 1-3 in select children’s Bibles across Jewish and Christian traditions. In recognition of her research, Rachel won the 2023 DeGruyter Prize for Biblical Studies and Reception History for her article “Snakes on a Page: Visual Receptions of the Eden Serpent Throughout the History of Western Art and Their Survivals in Modern Children’s Bibles.” Her prize-winning work was invited for presentation at a special session of the Society of Biblical Literature in 2024. Her broader interests include the intersections of theology, visual culture, and children’s literature, especially how theological meaning is shaped (or constrained) when biblical texts are simplified, sanitized, or illustrated for young readers. On a personal note, Rachel is enthusiastic about children’s faith formation, and she is aunt to numerous nieces and nephews (notably, fourteen non-biological and one biological).
