Reverend

Wilda C. Gafney

PhD
Wil Gafney
Gafney delivering inaugural address at Brite Divinity School in 2015
Born1966 (age 57–58)
Other namesWil Gafney
Occupation(s)Episcopal priest, professor
Academic background
Education
Academic work
DisciplineHebrew Bible
InstitutionsTexas Christian University
Notable worksDaughters of Miriam: Women Prophets in Ancient Israel
Websitehttps://www.wilgafney.com/

Wilda C. Gafney, also known as Wil Gafney, (born 1966) is an American biblical scholar and Episcopal priest who is the Right Rev. Sam B. Hulsey Professor of Hebrew Bible at Brite Divinity School of Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas. She is specialist in womanist biblical interpretation, and topics including gender and race.

Early life and education

Gafney's parents were both teachers, who divorced when she was young.[1] She grew up attending a non-denominational church, was baptized in an AME Church, and attended a Catholic high school.[1]

Gafney earned a BA from Earlham College, a Quaker institution, in 1987, where she was one of only seven Black students on a campus of over 1000 students.[2] She completed a Master's of Divinity from Howard University, an historically black college, in 1997.[3] She completed a PhD in Hebrew Bible from Duke University in 2006,[3] where she was mentored by Roland E. Murphy.[2] Her doctoral dissertation became her first book, Daughters of Miriam, a study of female prophets in ancient Israel.[1]

Career

Gafney is an Episcopal priest, licensed in the Diocese of Fort Worth and formerly resident in the Diocese of Pennsylvania.[4] She was a US Army Reserve chaplain and a congregational pastor in the AME Zion Church, as well as a member of Germantown Jewish Center,[5] Reconstructionist Jewish congregation in Philadelphia.[6]

Gafney's first teaching position was at the Lutheran Seminaries in Philadelphia and Gettysburg, beginning in 2003.[1] In 2014, she was appointed associate professor of Hebrew Bible at Brite Divinity School at Texas Christian University.[7] In 2018, she served on a committee that recommended The Book of Common Prayer for the Episcopal Church in the United States be changed to gender neutral language.[8]

Gafney's research focuses on intersections between the biblical text and contemporary issues, and she has taught courses called "The Bible and Black Lives Matter", "Exodus in African American Exegesis", and "The Bible in the Public Square".[9] She is on the editorial team for the Journal of Biblical Literature.[3] Her book Womanist Midrash uses womanist and feminist hermeneutics to interpret passages from the Hebrew Scriptures.[10]

From 2012 to 2013, Gafney wrote a series of articles for the Huffington Post on topics including sexual violence and civil rights.[11][12] In June 2018, in response to Jeff Sessions quoting Romans 13 to defend President Donald Trump's policy of separating children from their parents at the border, Gafney wrote an article for Religion Dispatches titled "If We Did Use the Bible to Run the Country...."[13] In September 2020, Gafney participated in "Scholar Strike", an initiative inspired by the strikes by athletes to call attention to racial injustice in the US. Gafney posted a video to the Scholar Strike YouTube page titled "White Supremacy in Biblical Interpretation."[14] After many journalists called January 6, 2021, a "dark day", Gafney responded, "Today was not a 'dark day'. Today was a white day. One of the whitest days in American history."[15]

Awards and honors

In 2019, the Union of Black Episcopalians presented Gafney with the Anna Julia Haywood Cooper Honor Award for her scholarship and advocacy on matters of race and gender.[16] In 2020, the Society of Biblical Literature named her one of the first two recipients of its Outstanding Mentor Award.[17]

Selected publications

Books

  • Gafney, Wilda (2008). Daughters of Miriam: Women Prophets in Ancient Israel. Fortress Press. ISBN 9780800662585.[18][19]
  • DeYoung, Curtiss Paul; Gafney, Wilda C.; Guardiola-Saenz, Leticia; Tinker, George E.; Yamada, Frank M., eds. (2008). The Peoples' Bible. Fortress Press. ISBN 9780806656250.[20]
  • DeYoung, Curtiss Paul; Gafney, Wil; Guardiola-Saenez, Leticia A. (2010). The Peoples' Companion to the Bible. Fortress Press. ISBN 9780800697020.
  • Gafney, Wilda C. (2017). Womanist Midrash: A Reintroduction to the Women of the Torah and the Throne. Presbyterian Publishing Corporation. ISBN 9780664239039.[10][21][22]
  • Gafney, Wilda C. N. (2017). Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah. Wisdom Commentary. Vol. 38. Liturgical Press. ISBN 9780814681879.
  • Gafney, Wilda (2021). A Women's Lectionary for the Whole Church: Year A. Church Publishing. ISBN 9781640651623.

Chapters and articles

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Singh, Simran Jeet (March 3, 2021). "Wil Gafney, "Anti-Racism as a Spiritual Practice"". Religion News Service. Retrieved April 16, 2021.
  2. 1 2 Aycock, Jennifer (March 14, 2011). "Rev. Dr. Wil Gafney on King's Legacy and Influence". McCormick Theological Seminary. Retrieved April 16, 2021.
  3. 1 2 3 "Wil Gafney: Professor of Hebrew Bible". Brite Divinity School.
  4. ↑ "Biography". Working Preacher.
  5. ↑ Putman, Janene Cates (January 7, 2019). "An Interview with Rev. Wil Gafney, Ph.D." Christian Feminism Today. Retrieved May 12, 2022.
  6. ↑ Matthew Lynch (January 12, 2021). "Wil Gafney – Womanist Midrash". On Script (Podcast).
  7. ↑ Daley, Vanessa (February 20, 2014). "Dr. Wil Gafney joins Brite Divinity School faculty" (PDF). Texas Christian University. Retrieved April 16, 2021.
  8. ↑ Zauzmer, Julie (July 3, 2018). "Is God male? The Episcopal Church debates whether to change its Book of Common Prayer". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 26, 2021.
  9. ↑ "Wil Gafney". TheoEd.
  10. 1 2 Lovelace, Vanessa (2018). "Womanist Midrash: A Reintroduction to the Women of the Torah and the Throne, written by Wilda C. Gafney". Horizons in Biblical Theology. 40 (2): 212–215. doi:10.1163/18712207-12341379. S2CID 171667828. Retrieved May 28, 2021.
  11. ↑ "Contributor: Rev. Wil Gafney, Ph.D." Huffington Post.
  12. ↑ Flock, Elizabeth (February 3, 2012). "Eddie Long crowned 'king'; religious leaders aren't impressed". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 28, 2021.
  13. ↑ Gafney, Wil (June 18, 2018). "If We Did Use the Bible to Run the Country..." Rewire News Group. Retrieved April 16, 2021.
  14. ↑ Umsted, Renee (September 11, 2020). "Professors participate in Scholar Strike to advocate for racial justice". TCU Race and Reconciliation Initiative. Retrieved April 16, 2021.
  15. ↑ Vigen, Aana Maria (January 13, 2021). "Jan. 6 Was the Whitest Epiphany: White Christians, Where Do We Go from Here?". Church Anew. Retrieved April 16, 2021.
  16. ↑ "Union of Black Episcopalians plans 51st annual gathering, will honor four leaders within The Episcopal Church". Episcopal News Service. June 20, 2019. Retrieved April 16, 2021.
  17. ↑ Sherrod, Katie (August 27, 2020). "The Rev Dr Wil Gafney named Outstanding Mentor by the Society of Biblical Literature". The Episcopal Church in North Texas. Retrieved April 16, 2021.
  18. ↑ Kelle, Brad E. (December 2008). "Daughters of Miriam: Women Prophets in Ancient Israel – By Wilda C. Gafney". Religious Studies Review. 34 (4): 284–285. doi:10.1111/j.1748-0922.2008.00322_1.x. Retrieved May 28, 2021.
  19. ↑ Frankel, Ellen (2010). "Daughters of Miriam: Women Prophets in Ancient Israel". Biblical Interpretation. 18 (4–5): 280–282. doi:10.1163/156851508X378959. Retrieved May 28, 2021.
  20. ↑ Thomas, Oral (2009). "George 'Tink' Tinker, Wilda C. Gafney, Frank M. Yamada, et al., eds, The Peoples' Bible". Black Theology. 7 (2): 241–242. doi:10.1558/blth.v7i2.241. S2CID 141933576. Retrieved May 28, 2021.
  21. ↑ del Rosario, Joyce (2018). "Womanist Midrash: A Reintroduction to the Women of the Torah and the Throne, by Wilda C. Gafney". Pneuma. 40 (4): 613–615. doi:10.1163/15700747-04004014. S2CID 239503306. Retrieved May 28, 2021.
  22. ↑ Clutterbuck-Cook, Hanna (November 10, 2017). "Fresh Looks at the Bible". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved May 28, 2021.
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