She received a B.A. from Wake Forest University, an M. Div. from The Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D. from Emory University. She served six years on the staff of First Baptist Church, Winston-Salem, N.C., coordinating inner-city ministry and outreach programs. She taught New Testament and Greek at Lexington Theological Seminary from 1987-1999, and joined the Baylor faculty in 1999. She has contributed to Mercer Dictionary of the Bible, The Women’s Bible Commentary and Mercer Commentary on the Bible, and is the author of Prayer, Power, and the Problem of Suffering.