The Rev. Helen Chukka, PhD is an ordained minister of the Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church and hails from southern India She earned degrees from Gurukul Lutheran Theological College and Research Institute, Chennai, India; Union Theological Seminary, New York; and Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago She is a Dalit feminist biblical scholar contributing at the intersections of caste, gender, religions, and Bible.Prior to her studies at Union and LSTC, Dr. Chukka served the National Council of Churches in India (NCCI) as the first female Executive Secretary for the Commission on Youth. She comes to Phillips from Wartburg Theological Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa, where she served as the Assistant Professor of Hebrew Bible.
Her research interests include mixed marriages in Ezra-Nehemiah, Women in the Hebrew Bible, and themes of loss, grief, and hope in lament, among others. She enjoys juxtaposing films with biblical texts to critique and analyze how dominant narratives shape, uphold, and influence commonsense understandings through media, art, and culture. She explores human emotions such as grief, loss, and anger in the Hebrew Bible as authentic and faithful modes of communication with God.
Her recent works appear in Oxford Handbook of Bible in India, Encyclopedia of Biblical Reception and forthcoming in Themes and Issues in Biblical Studies: Ezra-Nehemiah (Equinox press). She regularly contributes to Working preacher, Politics of Scripture, and Sermon Labs.
Dr. Chukka is a member of Society of Biblical Literature. She engages in the ministry of local congregations by leading them in Bible studies and preaching. She is often invited to speak at International Dalit gatherings. She has previous led Bible studies on women in the Hebrew Bible at Student Christian Movement in India, National Council of Churches in India, Church of South India synod, World Communion of Reformed Churches, and World Council of Churches.