Education

• Ph.D. (Princeton Theological Seminary)
• M.Div. (Luther Seminary)

Biography

Rolf Jacobson is Dean of the Faculty, Professor of Old Testament and the Alvin N. Rogness Chair of Scripture, Theology, and Ministry, joined the Luther Seminary faculty in 2003.  Prior to that, he served on the faculty of Augsburg University and as Associate Pastor of Como Park Lutheran Church (St. Paul, Minnesota).

Rolf is known for combining humor and faithful biblical interpretation. You can see this in his book The Homebrewed Christianity Guide to the Old Testament: Israel’s In-Your-Face, Holy God and Divine Laughter: Preaching and the Serious Business of Humor (with Karl Jacobson).

Rolf enjoys collaborating with other leaders. With Craig Koester, he developed and supports the Narrative Lectionary.  With Beth Tanner and Nancy deClaissé-Walford he wrote The Book of Psalms (NICOT). With Karl Jacobson, he wrote Invitation to the Psalms (with Karl Jacobson). With several others, he wrote both Crazy Talk: A Not-So-Stuffy Dictionary of Theological Terms and Crazy Book: A Not-So-Stuffy Dictionary of Biblical Terms (with Hans Wiersma and Karl Jacobon).  And with Michael Chan, he is the author of Introducing the Old Testament: A Historical, Literary, and Theological Survey.

For over 15 years, he was a part of “Sermon Brainwave,” a weekly preaching podcast. He continues to participate in “The Narrative Lectionary” podcast.

Rolf sings the high lonesome and operates a guitar in “The Fleshpots of Egypt,” a Lutheran bluegrass band.

A survivor of childhood cancer, he is a double, above-the-knee amputee, who generally wears a bicycle and a smile.  He lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, with his beloved wife Amy, their children Ingrid and Gunnar, and a cat who thinks he is a lion. He is a loyal friend, lifelong sufferer of Minnesota sports, and committed board-game geek.

He is an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.