Biblical and theological studies prof receives NWC award for excellence in faith and learning

Dr. Cambria Kaltwasser, Northwestern College’s Marvin and Jerene DeWitt Endowed Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies, has been named the 2026 recipient of the college’s Faculty Excellence in Faith and Learning Award. She was recognized during commencement exercises on May 9.

The award honors and encourages the calling and responsibility of Christian faculty to devote time and energy to scholarship and creative expression in ways that faithfully convey the wonder, truth and beauty of God’s revelation in Scripture and creation.

A member of Northwestern’s faculty since 2017, Kaltwasser teaches courses in historical and doctrinal theology on topics such as election, eschatology, worship, prayer and the Christian life. She also directs the Northwestern Core, the college’s general education program.

“In just a few years Professor Kaltwasser has established herself at Northwestern as a fine theologian whose relationships with colleagues and students are marked by wisdom and generosity,” wrote some faculty colleagues who nominated her for the award. “She is an internationally recognized Barth scholar and has contributed chapters for prestigious collections such as The Oxford Handbook of Deification as well as several other chapters and journal articles. She shares her great learning with tremendous charity and humility.”

Her book, “Karl Barth on Friendship With God: Prayer, Partnership and Transformation,” will be published this fall by Baylor University Press. Kaltwasser is the project editor for the Karl Barth Translators Seminar, a two-time grant recipient from the National Endowment for the Humanities for its work translating the shorter works of the Swiss theologian. The seminar’s first volume under Kaltwasser’s leadership appeared this spring under the title “The Early Barth—Lectures and Shorter Works: Volume 2, 1909–1914.”

An ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Kaltwasser frequently preaches at area churches. She serves as a member of the board of trustees for New Brunswick Theological Seminary.

Kaltwasser earned a doctorate in systematic theology at Princeton Theological Seminary, where she also completed a Master of Divinity degree. She received a bachelor’s degree from John Brown University.