Dr. Leslie Thyberg

PhD (Pedagogy and Teacher Development) University of Pittsburgh, 1988
MEd (Education, Psycholinguistics, Reading Specialist) University of Pittsburgh, 1981
BA (Education, Sociology, and Biblical Studies) Wheaton College, 1975

Professor of Pastoral and Practical Theology

Learning Skills Coordinator

DMin Research and Writing Support

Dr. Leslie F. Thyberg brings over forty years of teaching experience to Trinity. Having served as chair of the board of examining chaplains for the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh, she came to know and admire Trinity's community. As Learning Skills Coordinator, she assists students with writing, study, and reading skills, applying her training in psycholinguistics. She also works with DMin students and serves on the ACNA Catechesis Task Force, co-chairing the subcommittee producing a children's catechism.

Dr. Thyberg's spiritual formation courses begin with the question: "Are you a tourist or a pilgrim?" She sees her role as dispelling false narratives—there are no "slow readers," only careful ones. Good writing is as much about pastoral care as grammar. Her office is known as the "cave of wonders" for its toys, puzzles, and catechetical materials.

What Dr. Thyberg treasures most is Thursday lunch when students' families attend. Her hope stems from knowing J.I. Packer, whose commitment to catechesis Trinity carries forward. She and her husband have lived in intentional Christian community for over three decades, raising backyard chickens with whimsical names like Flannery O'Clucker. Fun fact: at nineteen, a Bedouin offered her professor fifty camels as a bride price at Mt. Sinai.

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Research Interests

Dr. Thyberg's research interests are quite eclectic. Topics central to her work at Trinity include catechesis, the domestic church and family as the forming center, and the intersectionality of our ancient creedal faith with contemporary cultural conundrums. Beyond her own scholarship, she is a firm believer in lifelong learning and keeps abreast of her adult children's research—one son works as a professor at Augsburg dedicated to marginalized and vulnerable youth, while her daughter is a nurse practitioner and neonatologist at Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh, working on her PhD in communication and trauma training to improve support for families in neonatal intensive care crisis. She is continually enriched by the research her students and colleagues engage in at Trinity.

Other Faculty

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The Rev. Dr. Joel Scandrett

Associate Professor Historical Theology

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The Rev. Dr. Prof. Don Collett

Professor of Old Testament

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The Rev. Dr. David Ney

Associate Professor of Church History

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Dr. David Luy

Associate Professor of Systematic Theology