Laura Manzo

Juana Manzo is an Associate Professor of Scripture at the Mexican American Catholic College (MACC) and Coordinator of the Spanish Master of Arts in Pastoral Ministry (MAPM), a collaborative graduate program between the University of the Incarnate Word and MACC in San Antonio, Texas. She completed her PhD in Biblical Studies at The Catholic University of America in 2009 and earned both an STL (2001) and an STB (1998) from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. She also holds a MATS (1998) and a BA (1990) from the University of St. Thomas. Dr. Manzo’s primary research interest is Wisdom Literature.

Her previous academic appointments include serving as a Tenured Associate Professor of Scripture at St. Mary’s Seminary Graduate School of Theology at the University of St. Thomas in Houston and as an Assistant Professor of Old Testament at St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo, California. Across these institutions, she taught a broad range of courses to seminarians, permanent deacons and laity. Earlier in her career, she worked as a religion teacher, adult faith formation coordinator, and instructor for diocesan formation programs in Washington, D.C., Virginia, and Texas. She brings more than two decades of experience teaching Scripture, forming lay and ordained ministers, and advancing Catholic biblical scholarship in both English and Spanish.

• Ph.D., Biblical Studies, The Catholic University of America, 2009
  Dissertation: Lady Wisdom and the Use of Imagery in Sirach 24 (Director: Fr. Christopher Begg)
• S.T.L., Sacred Theology, Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, 2001
  Tesina: La Revelación Enigmática del Misterio Pascual en el Evangelio de Juan (Director: José Caba, S.J.)
• S.T.B., Sacred Theology, Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, 1998
• M.A., Theology, St. Mary’s Seminary, Houston, 1996
  Thesis: The Cup of Wrath in the Prophets and Mark’s Gospel (Director: Rev. Sean Martin)
• B.A., University of St. Thomas, Houston, 1990

Articles:

• “A Post-colonial Latino Biblical Catholic Interpretation in Latin America,” in The Future of Catholic Biblical Interpretation (Eerdmans, 2024).
• “Tobit,” in The Westminster Study Bible with the Deuterocanonical/Apocryphal Books (Westminster John Knox, 2024).
• “Ecclesiastes,” in The Jerome Biblical Commentary for the Twenty-First Century (T&T Clark, 2022).
• “The Memory of Mary’s Mission According to the Guadalupan Sermons…” in Rediscovering the Marys (T&T Clark, 2020).
• “Free Will and the Hardening of Pharaoh’s Heart…” in The Revelation of Your Words (St. Paul Seminary Press, 2021).
• “Feeding the Poor in Isaiah 58…” in By Bread Alone (Fortress Press, 2014).

Pastoral & Academic Articles

• “Called to be Preachers!” Regina Cleri (2019).
• “Searching for God’s Wisdom in Our Daily Lives,” The Pastoral Review (2016).
• “You Will Know that I am the Lord of Life: 1 Kings 17–18,” The Bible Today (2015).

• Catholic Biblical Association
• Society of Biblical Literature

• Hiking
• Reading
• Traveling

• Pentateuch
• Covenant and Kingdom
• Prophets
• Historical Books
• Widom Books
• Pauline Literature
• Synoptic Gospels
• Johannine Literature
• Introduction to the Hebrew Bible
• Program Planning and Evaluation
• Student Pastoral Project Coordinator