Christopher Ocker

Christopher Ocker is a Professor at the Graduate School of Theology, San Francisco Theological Seminary, and affiliated with the Graduate Theological Union at Berkeley since 1992. He has held leadership roles including Chair of the Department for Cultural and Historical Studies, Interim Dean, and Assistant Provost at the University of Redlands. His research centers on cultural transformations in Medieval and Reformation Europe, with affiliations to the Medieval Studies Program and Berkeley Center for the Study of Religion at UC Berkeley.

• MDiv, Fuller Theological Seminary
• ThM, Princeton Theological Seminary
• PhD, Princeton Theological Seminary

Ocker's scholarly work bridges Global Christianity, Medieval History, and Religious Conflict, focusing on intellectual and social dynamics of the Reformation. His publications examine themes of religious confiscation, biblical interpretation, and material culture, reflecting interdisciplinary approaches to European religious history.

His recent articles highlight trends in Reformation historiography, emphasizing hybridity in cultural and intellectual transformations, materiality in religious practices, and the socio-political dimensions of religious conflict in early modern Europe.

Scientific Awards

• Honorable mention, Roland H. Bainton Prize (2023)
• Senior Fellow, Technical University Dresden Center for Comparative History of Monasticism (2021)
• Natalie Zemon Davis Prize (2014)
• Alexander von Humboldt Fellowships (2009, 1995)
• American Philosophical Society Sabbatical Fellowship (2003)

Ocker has mentored through roles like Coordinator of the Muilenburg-Koenig History of Religion Seminar and served on editorial boards for Studies in Medieval and Reformation Traditions and Arbeiten zur Kirchengeschichte. He has held visiting positions at Hochschule für Jüdische Studien (Heidelberg) and Vancouver School of Theology.