Debra Rienstra

Student organizations: Dialogue
Links: Personal website

Dr. Debra Rienstra
Professor, Department Co-Chair
English
Covenant Fine Arts Center 270 (Map)
(616) 526-8526
drienstr@calvin.edu
Curriculum Vitae

Education

Professor Rienstra began her higher education at Calvin College before transferring to the University of Michigan, where she received her bachelor of arts in English literature in 1987 with Highest Honors and Highest Distinction. She began graduate studies at Rutgers University, receiving an MA in English literature in 1991 and a PhD in literatures in English in 1995. She joined the Calvin College English department in 1996.

Biography

Recent Activities

She and her husband, Ron Rienstra, collaborated on a book, Worship Words: Discipling Language for Faithful Worship, released by Baker Academic in 2009. Other books include So Much More: An Invititation to Christian Spirituality (2005), which won an Award of Merit from Christianity Today in the apologetics category, and Great With Child (2002), which was named a Best Book of 2002 by Publisher's Weekly. Professor Rienstra frequently speaks on topics related to worship.

Professor Rienstra was the 2008 Calvin faculty lecturer at the The January Series at Calvin College, with a talk titled, "Words Wear Out: How Writers Help Us Renew Religious Language."