Theological Writing Center
Th
e Theological Writing Center is a supportive and encouraging place for collaboration between writer and writing tutor. We offer writing support to all students of Perkins School of Theology at any stage of your writing project.
Tutors are reference librarians and graduate students trained in helping you to improve your writing.
Appointments are 30-minute one-on-one consultations online or in person. Writing samples must be submitted at least 24 hours in advance. The more time you give us upfront, the more help we can offer during the appointment.
We can help develop:
- Sound writing structure through a clear thesis and topic sentences
- Critical thinking skills for reading, research methods, and writing
- Appropriate writing style to match the varied tasks of theological education
- Correctly formatted citations and the use of standard spelling and grammar
Meet Our Staff
Jane Elder is the Head of Reference & Research and the Theological Writing Center at Bridwell Library. She has completed several degrees from SMU, including an MTS and a ThM from Perkins, and has authored various academic books, articles, and exhibition catalogs. Her writing interests include Church History, the History of Texas and the American Southwest, Biography, and Writing Best Practices.
Chris Clarke is Research and Instruction Librarian at Bridwell Library. He has earned a Ph.D. in Hebrew Bible from Claremont Graduate University and a MLIS from Southern Connecticut State University. His research interests include prophetic literature, apocalyptic literature, and Jewish literature from the Hellenistic and Roman Periods.
Fernando Berwig Silva is a doctoral student in Religion and Culture at SMU, starting his dissertation project this academic year. He speaks and writes proficiently in three languages: English, Portuguese, and Spanish. Fernando’s overall scholarship engages with Practical Theology, Liturgical studies, church music, decolonial and Latin American studies; moreover, Berwig Silva is interested in understanding how ideas of race, ethnicity, and coloniality are expressed in music practices of Latin American diasporic Christian communities.
Silas Vermilya is a Ph.D. student in Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. His research primarily focuses on biblical poetry, especially texts that deal with lament, trauma, and theodicy. Silas’s work also engages the afterlives of these texts in dialogue with the survival literature of communities impacted by various catastrophes. His additional interests include ancient Israelite religion, Jewish biblical interpretation, literary-critical approaches to biblical studies, and the historical development of Hebrew and other NW Semitic languages. Prior to coming to SMU for doctoral studies, Silas received bachelor’s degrees in Psychology and Philosophy from Indiana Wesleyan University (2021), an M.Div. from Emory University (2024), and a Th.M. in Biblical Studies from Emory University (2025). He previously served as a Writing Consultant with Emory's Candler Center for Academic Success.