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Status of Women in the Profession Committee Activities
The SBL Status of Women in the Profession Committee was constituted to assess the status and encourage the participation of women in all professional areas of biblical studies. In pursuit of this mandate, the Committee continues its efforts in areas of mentoring and networking, opening the Society to greater participation by women, and calling attention to the ways in which the Society through its various activities speaks to and about women.
Mentoring
 Each year at the SBL Annual Meeting, CSWP honors women who have been excellent mentors to women in the field. These mentors have provided invaluable guidance, advice, and encouragement. They serve as role models and assist other women in navigating career choices, building professional networks, and developing strategies for work-life balance. CSWP honors mentors in order to recognize their contributions and to encourage mentoring relationships.
During the SBL Women Members’ Breakfast at the 2007 Annual Meeting, we presented a mentor award to Sharon Ringe, Wesley Theological Seminary
If you would like to nominate a mentor, please send your nomination with a descriptive letter of endorsement to Risa Levitt Kohn at rkohn@mail.sdsu.edu. Nominations must be received by March 1st. Nominations received after the deadline will be considered for the following year.
Networking
- Breakfast
Each year at the SBL Annual Meeting, CSWP hosts a complimentary breakfast for women SBL members. This breakfast provides an opportunity for women to meet and learn from other women in the field, honor mentors and connect with friends and colleagues. In 2007, the theme of the breakfast was “Technology and the Profession.” Women members joined flagged tables to share informal conversation about the challenges and opportunities of what has become a pervasive aspect of both teaching and scholarly presentation. Topics included: blogging, threaded discussions, art on the web, powerpoint, distance learning, and technology-enhanced presentations.
We held a raffle for books authored by women and published by SBL, as well as for one free registration for the Annual Meeting in Boston, 2008.
- Student Orientation
The CSWP held its annual women student members’ coffee and orientation at the 2007 Annual Meeting. This year’s theme was "Networking and Navigating." Students gathered according to area of study and discussed or shared insights on topics such as: why they had chosen this field, wisdom specific to their field, things about this field that can be overwhelming at times, and strategies for survival/thriving.
The session had approximately 47 participants. Several students indicated that they look forward to this session each year. Overall, the students found the opportunity to meet and talk with others to be the most useful part of the session. One student appreciated the “chance to converse with women in my field who are going through the same thing.” Another valued “meeting with other New Testament scholars and discussing how being a woman in a field dominated by men can be challenging, but also rewarding.”
- Listserve:
CSWP maintains a moderated list serve for SBL women members. This list serve is devoted to the discussion of a variety of topics related to the status of women engaged in biblical scholarship. The list includes senior and junior faculty, administrators, and graduate students. To subscribe, send a blank email to:
sbl-cswp-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
For the listserve archive, see: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sbl-cswp/
Increasing Participation
- For helpful tips on giving presentations
- For tips on navigating the Annual Meeting
- International Meeting
SBL-CSWP held a session at the SBL International Meeting in Vienna, Austria on July 25th, 2007. Heather McKay organized and facilitated the session on issues affecting women’s professional lives. Presenters included Diane E. Curtis, who presented a paper, "Searching the Scriptures" for Sisters: A History of Women in the Society of Biblical Literature,” and Mignon Jacobs of Fuller Seminary, Ellen Aitken of Harvard University and Christiana deGroot of Calvin College. For questions regarding CSWP’s international activities, contact Claudia Camp, c.camp@tcu.edu ).
- Travel Grant
CSWP sponsors travel grants for international women to attend the Annual Meeting. The grant provides transportation, hotel accommodations, and other expenses for women who would otherwise not be able to attend the Annual Meeting. CSWP members serve as hosts during the Annual Meeting and provide ongoing mentoring to grant recipients. Travel grant recipients share their experiences with women in their home countries and submit a report to CSWP.
If you are a woman in biblical studies from a developing country, Eastern Europe, or Asia, please see travel grant application details.
For questions contact Barbara Bowe (barbbowe@ctu.edu)
The following three women were able to attend the Annual Meeting in San Diego because of the travel grants awarded by the CSWP:
- Mercy Itohan Idumwonyi is currently Assistant Lecturer in Religion with a specialization in Old Testament studies at the University of Benin in Benin City, Nigeria. Her professional experience includes work as a research fellow for the Centre for Democracy & Development in Benin City, and a year as Senior Program Officer for the African Women Empowerment Guild, also in Benin City.
- Siang-Nuan Leong is a Ph. D. student in New Testament at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. She has worked as a secondary school teacher and has taught a short term intensive course in the Myanmar Christian Preachers Training Centre. She translated the Letter of Titus for the Chinese New Version Bible (2006).
- Micheline Kamba Kasongo
 is currently a Ph. D. student in Theology at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) in South Africa. She has served as a consultant for the Ecumenical Disability Advocates Network of Central Africa and as consultant for Women's justice and Peace Commission of the WCC. In February 2006 she was elected WCC Central Committee member.
Advocacy with SBL
CSWP advocates for the development of programs and policies that support the full inclusion of women in the activities of SBL. CSWP collaborates with other women's groups and program unit chairs to design and implement programs focusing on issues specific to women. Also, it assists in developing policies and monitoring complaints of sexual harassment and ethical misconduct.
For the first time the CSWP held a session at the Annual Meeting entitled, “Survivor SBL: Everything You Wanted to Know About Being a Woman -and- a Biblical Scholar, but Were Afraid to Ask.” Approximately 40 people came to hear from the 3 panelists – Carol Dempsey, Ross Kraemer, and Jane Webster – share stories of their journeys through the Society and their profession. Some of the issues raised included: family dynamics, departmental and denominational politics, and negative student feedback for raising feminist concerns. There was engaging and energetic conversation afterward. The group was cheered to know the progress women have made (no more interviews in hotel rooms!) but also realize that these issues still remain. Join us next year for “Suvivor II: Boston.”
CSWP
The CSWP looks forward to providing innovative programming for women SBL members. If you have suggestions, questions, or concerns relating to women student members, please contact chair Risa Levitt Kohn (rkohn@mail.sdsu.edu).
Members of CSWP
Nyasha, Molly, Nancy, Deborah, Risa, Claudia and Barbara (not pictured: Jennifer and Rannfrid)
- Jennifer Bird (Ph.D., Vanderbilt University) is a visiting lecturer (2007-08) in Greensboro College’s Religion and Philosophy Department. She has contributed the chapter on Ephesians for A Postcolonial Commentary of the New Testament and one for Marxist Feminist Criticism of the Bible.
- Barbara E. Bowe (Th. D. and M.T.S. Harvard University; M. Ed. Boston College) is Professor of Biblical Studies and Director of the Master of Divinity Program at Catholic Theological Union, Chicago. In 2003 she published Biblical Foundations of Spirituality (Sheed & Ward) and is currently writing the Hermeneia commentary on First Clement (Fortress Press).
- Nancy Bowen (Ph.D., Princeton Theological Seminary) is Associate Professor of Old Testament at Earlham School of Religion in Richmond, Indiana. She served as co-chair of the SBL Feminist Hermeneutics of the Bible Section for six years and is an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church.
- Claudia Camp (Ph.D, Duke; M.Div., Harvard) is Professor of Religion at Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, Texas. She is the author of Wise, Strange and Holy: The Strange Woman and the Making of the Bible (2000), Wisdom and the Feminine in the Book of Proverbs (1985), and other articles on feminist criticism of the wisdom and narrative literature of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. She joined CSWP in 2007.
- Deborah A. Green (Ph.D., University of Chicago) is Assistant Professor of Hebrew Language and Literature at the University of Oregon. Her research focuses on rabbinic interpretation (midrash) of the Hebrew Bible during the late Roman and early Byzantine periods. She is currently working on a monograph, The Aroma of Righteousness , that explores images related to perfume and incense in rabbinic literature and attempts to synthesize these images with the archaeological record in Palestine. She is also co-editor of the forthcoming, Commemorating the Dead: Texts and Artifacts in Context: Studies of Roman, Jewish, and Christian Burials (de Gruyter, 2008).
- Nyasha Junior (Ph.D., Princeton Theological Seminary) is Assistant Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Dayton. She has served on the CSWP since 2002.
- Risa Levitt Kohn is professor of Hebrew Bible and Judaism at San Diego State University. She earned a Ph.D. in ancient history and Hebrew Bible from the University of California, San Diego. Her publications include A New Heart and a New Soul: Ezekiel, the Exile and the Torah (Sheffield Academic Press) and A Portable God: The Origin of Judaism & Christianity (Rowman & Littlefield). She was recently honored with a national Regional Scholar Award from the Society of Biblical Literature and served as the curator for the Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibition at the San Diego Natural History Museum.
- Rannfrid I. Thelle (Dr. art, M.A., Oslo), is the author of Ask God. Divine Consultation in the Literature of the Hebrew Bible (2002). She has taught at the University of Oslo and at Luther College. Her current research projects include “Babylon in the Book of Jeremiah” and a study on Deuteronomy. Through the Women’s League of the Norwegian Labor Party, Thelle is responsible for a project of democracy development called “Women Can Do It”.
- Molly Zahn is a PhD Candidate in Christianity and Judaism in Antiquity at the University of Notre Dame. Her dissertation, supervised by Professor James VanderKam, focuses on the rewriting of the Pentateuch in the Dead Sea Scrolls. She has published articles on the Temple Scroll and on the relevance of Second-Temple texts to an understanding of pentateuchal legal texts such as Exodus 13.
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