Professor of Theology & Religious Studies · Saint Martin's University
Scholar of the Hebrew Scriptures, Dead Sea Scrolls, ancient Judaism and early Christianity, with two decades of teaching, research, and public lecturing across North America, Europe, and Israel.
Ian Werrett has been a Professor of Theology and Religious Studies at Saint Martin's University since 2006, and an Affiliate Instructor of Religion at the University of Washington, Tacoma since 2025. He teaches introductory and advanced courses in religious studies and biblical studies, with particular expertise in the Hebrew Scriptures, Dead Sea Scrolls, ancient Judaism, and early Christianity.
He has given lectures and presented conference papers throughout North America, Europe, and Israel, including in-situ work with the Dead Sea Scrolls at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. He was the featured speaker for Saint Martin's prestigious Last Lecture series in 2011 and was named the Monks of Saint Martin's Abbey Outstanding Faculty Member of the Year in 2011–12. He served as President of Saint Martin's Faculty in 2013–14 and again in 2023–24, and is a regular public speaker for UW Tacoma, the Olympia Senior Center, Panorama, and Jubilee Living Community.
He is the author of Ritual Purity and the Dead Sea Scrolls (Brill, 2007) and co-author, with Dr. Reza Aslan, of a forthcoming introductory textbook on religious studies, What is Religion? (Princeton University Press).