About Jean
Author | Biblical Scholar | Storyteller
Jean's Story
Jean Dudek has been marinating in the Bible for many years through her master’s degree, seminary teaching assisting, and biblical storytelling. Now she has written her first book, The Scent of Bright Light. Historical fiction set in the Bronze Age, it retells the biblical story of Sarah, Abraham, and Hagar from Sarah’s point of view.
Jean has been sharing stories from the bible through Biblical Storytelling in the Washington D.C. Metro area since 2009. She is a member of the Network of Biblical Storytellers, International (NBSI) and is a regular storyteller at their annual Festival Gathering. Jean is a founding member of Voices of the Heart, a local guild associated with NBSI whose members are based in the Greater Washington, D.C. area, many of whom have a connection to Wesley Theological Seminary.
Jean serves as a Teaching Assistant as Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington D.C. in the introductory Hebrew Bible and New Testament courses. Over the years, she has worked with Professors Sharon Ringe, Denise Dombkowski Hopkins, David Hopkins, Paul Cho, Bruce Birch, Amy Beth Jones, Greg Carey, Katherine Grieb, and Carla Works.
It is said that Jean’s superpower is the ability to find the intersection between biblical studies and stand-up comedy.
Jean received her Master of Theological Studies degree, with honors and a concentration in Biblical Studies from Wesley Theological Seminary in 2009. Her Master’s thesis is on Scottish twin sisters, Agnes Smith Lewis and Margaret Dunlop Gibson, who discovered and translated ancient biblical manuscripts in the 19th century.
In addition to her Master of Theological Studies from Wesley, Jean is a cum laude graduate of Smith College (with a year at Williams College), did biomedical research at Rockefeller University, received her Juris Doctor degree from New York University School of Law, and practiced intellectual property law in New York City and Washington D.C. until she was called to biblical studies. Jean is a past president of The Patent Lawyer’s Club of Washington.
