The purpose of the 2026 TorahResource Academic Conference (TRAC) is to nurture and promote positive scholarly discourse concerning the covenant people of God. There has been significant debate on the issue of who is Israel and how Gentiles attach themselves to this people group. This conference will look at various aspects of identity within the covenant people of God.
Join us for an afternoon of academic papers and discussion on topics relating to various lines that have been drawn when it comes to the people of God and Israel. More speakers will be announced as they are confirmed.
The TRAC is a virtual event created to further the One Torah discussion among Torah observant and non-Torah observant Believers.
Speakers will be announced as soon as they are confirmed. Early Registration is now open:
Jason A. Staples (Ph.D., UNC-Chapel Hill) is an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at NC State University, where he teaches courses on biblical literature, early Judaism, Christian origins, ethics, globalism, conflict, and various theoretical perspectives in the study of religion and society. He is the author of Paul and the Resurrection of Israel: Jews, Former Gentiles, Israelites (Cambridge University Press, 2024), The Idea of Israel in Second Temple Judaism: A New Theory of People, Exile, and Israelite Identity (Cambridge University Press, 2021) and numerous scholarly articles. He was a 2008 recipient of the U.S. Department of Education’s Jacob K. Javits Fellowship and is a member of the UNC Royster Society of Fellows. His articles have been published in The Journal of Biblical Literature, New Testament Studies, Journal for the Study of the New Testament, Harvard Theological Review, Zeitschrift für die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft, the Journal of Religion and Film, and more. He was a 2008 recipient of the U.S. Department of Education’s Jacob K. Javits Fellowship and is a member of the UNC Royster Society of Fellows.
Professor Strawn’s research focuses on ancient Near Eastern iconography, Israelite religion, biblical law, the Psalms, poetry, and Old Testament theology. He joined the Duke Divinity School faculty in 2019 and has a secondary appointment at the Duke University School of Law. Strawn is also a member of the Hebrew Bible track in the Ph.D. program in Religion, where he teaches and advises doctoral students in Duke’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Before that, he taught at Asbury Theological Seminary for three years and then, for eighteen years, at the Candler School of Theology at Emory University, where he was the William Ragsdale Cannon Distinguished Professor of Old Testament. Strawn has published over two hundred and fifty articles, chapters in books, contributions to reference works, and reviews. He is the author of What Is Stronger than a Lion? Leonine Image and Metaphor in the Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2005), The Old Testament Is Dying: A Diagnosis and Recommended Treatment (Baker Academic, 2017), The Old Testament: A Concise Introduction (Routledge, 2019), Lies My Preacher Told Me: An Honest Look at the Old Testament (Westminster John Knox, 2021), and Honest to God Preaching: Talking Sin, Suffering, and Violence (Fortress Press, 2021). He has edited or coedited over twenty-five volumes, including The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Bible and Law (Oxford, 2015), which received the 2016 Dartmouth Medal from the American Library Association for most outstanding reference work, and The Westminster Study Bible (Westminster, 2024). Strawn is an ordained elder in the North Georgia Conference of The United Methodist Church and regularly speaks and preaches at churches across the country. He has appeared on CNN on matters ranging from Easter celebrations to Pope Francis to gun violence, and served as both translator and member of the editorial board for The Common English Bible. Professor Strawn has received grants from the Association of Theological Schools, the Catholic Biblical Association, the Wabash Center, the Center for Hebraic Thought, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Dr. Benjamin Szumskyj has been a teacher for over eighteen years, most of these within Christian schools, ranging from the private sector to those practicing Curriculum and Reengagement in Education (CARE) for students-at-risk and those disengaged from mainstream schooling. He has taught English, Classical Education, Society & Environment (Humanities and Social Sciences), History, Geography, Politics & Law, Mathematics, Christian Education, and Health Education, in addition to implementing recovery programs and securing placements at vocational colleges and work experience for students. Dr. Szumskyj has also been actively involved in writing curriculum and team management in a classroom setting. Dr. Szumskyj has a Ph. D. in Bible Exposition (Liberty University), two Master's Degrees (Divinity, Liberty University; and Biblical Studies, Moody Bible Institute), and three Bachelor’s Degrees (Education, Society & Environment, and Theology), two Graduate Diplomas (Christian Studies and Librarian Technician), and three Graduate Certificates (Biblical Counseling Institute Ohio; Institute of Jewish Studies; Christian Institute on Disability). Dr. Szumskyj was also a certified Biblical Counselor (Association of Certified Biblical Counselors).
Benjamin Frostad is a PhD candidate at McMaster University's Department of Religious Studies, working in the field of New Testament and Early Judaism. His research seeks to understand Paul within his Jewish context, comparing attitudes toward gentile engagement with Israel's God in early Jewish texts and Paul's letters. Ben also holds an MA in Biblical Languages and Exegesis from Briercrest Seminary.
Carl T. Knaack has received a BA from the University of Wisconsin - Madison majoring in Anthropology, Classical Humanities, and Religious Studies, with certificates in Archaeology, Jewish Studies, and Material Culture Studies. He is currently a master's student at the University of Chicago Divinity School. Carl’s primary research interests include Source and Text Criticism of the Hebrew Bible, Semitic Epigraphy, and Anthropology. He has had co-authored papers appear in the journals Semitica and Aramaic Studies. Carl was raised in a Pronomian household and has been a member of the United Church of God since he was 10 years old. He currently resides in Wisconsin and Illinois, and has a passion for sharing academic conversations about God’s Word with all of God’s People.
Caleb Hegg is the current president of TorahResource. Caleb received a two year certificate from TorahResource Institute and then went on to take classes in the M.Div program at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Caleb has worked under his father at TorahResource in one capacity or another since 2006 and travelled as Tim's assistant for 18 years. Tim mentored Caleb in writing and research from 2011 to 2020 and was the mentor who shaped Caleb's theology and love of biblical education. In 2024, Caleb was put in charge of TorahResource and has continued to expand the resources offered through the ministry.
He is the author of Acts: Igniting the Abrahamic Promise (2022), and Instruction for Community, Family, & Personal Living: A Commentary on Colossians & Philemon (2021). His focus of study is in Meals in the Greco-Roman era with an emphasis on the Lord’s Supper. Caleb has been the co-host of Messiah Matters since its creation in 2012.
