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Carolyn Pressler
Harry C. Piper Jr. Professor of Biblical Interpretation
Ordained minister in the United Church of Christ
Appointed 1990

Education

B.A. Kalamazoo College
M.Div. Wesley Theological Seminary
Ph.D. Princeton Theological Seminary

Teaching and Research

• Hebrew Bible
• feminist and liberationist biblical interpretation
• gender and biblical law
• Hebrew

Listen to an interview with Carolyn Pressler

Courses Offered
CH111 Access to Biblical Hebrew
CH161-01 Orientation to the Older Testament: Pentateuch and Former Prophets
CH161ON Orientation to the Older Testament: Pentateuch and Former Prophets
ONLINE HYBRID COURSE
CH122 In the Wilderness with God: Teaching and Preaching the Book of Numbers
CH125   Love Song to Lament: Poetry in the Hebrew Bible
CH128 Social and Political Ideals of Ancient Israel
CH140 Feminist Approaches to Biblical Interpretation
CH162 The Older Testament in the Life of the Church: Selected Prophets and Writings
IS152 Integration of Ministry and Local Theologies

Visit the Course Descriptions page for descriptions of all courses.

Visit the Registration Bulletin page for a listing of all courses offered in the current and past academic year.

Publications 

Books

Engaging the Bible in a Gendered World
Co-edited with Linda Day. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2006

Joshua, Judges, and Ruth
Westminster Bible Companion. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2002

Articles

“Mapping an Expanding Terrain: the Study of Gender and Biblical Law” in Biblical Law, Gender, and Feminist Hermeneutic, edited by Rachel Magdalene and Athalya Brenner. Sheffield Phoenix, forthcoming.

Contributor. Dictionary of Scripture and Ethics, edited by Joel Green, Jacqueline Lapsley, Rebekah Miles, and Allen Verhey. Baker Academics, 2012. “Equality,” “Virginity,” “Incest.”

“Joshua” in The New Interpreters Dictionary of the Bible, Vol. 3, edited by Katharine Doob Sakenfeld. Nashville: Abingdon, 2008, 406-413.

Reviews (from 2000)

“Women in the Sex Texts of Leviticus and Deuteronomy: A Comparative Conceptual Analysis,” by Deborah Ellens. Review of Biblical Literature, 2010.

“The Prestige of the Pagan Prophet Balaam in Judaism, Early Christianity and Islam,” edited by George H. van Kooten and Jacques van Ruiten. Biblical Interpretation, 2010.

“Judges and Ruth,” by Victor Matthews. Interpretation, 2006.

Academic Papers or Forthcoming Articles in Progress (from 2000)

With Patrick Miller and Guenter Stemberger, Biblical Law and Ethics. Projected completion date: 2014.

Numbers (Abingdon Old Testament Commentary Series). Nashville: Abingdon, anticipated: 2011.

Women as Legal Subjects,” a paper delivered to the biblical colloquium in October 2008.“The ‘Biblical View’ of Marriage?” in Engaging the Bible in a Gendered World.

“Wonderful/Difficult: Ambiguity, Poetics, and the Knowledge of God in Psalm 139.” In A God So Near, edited by Breht Strawn and Nancy Bowen. Winona, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 2002.

Regular Topics for Presentation

Upcoming Presentations

Contact Carolyn at 651.255.6132.

During my leisure time I like taking walks, driving through the countryside, going to concerts and plays, doting on my nieces and nephews, reading novels, and spending time with friends.

* * *

“I love watching students begin to recognize the Older Testament as their story - the story of God working in and through their spiritual ancestors: Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar. The Older Testament is the book of a particular people, Israel, to be sure, and we stand at a great distance from that people, but there is a dimension of human experience, especially of the human experience of God, that is deeper than historical or cultural circumstances and that allows the Older Testament to speak to us in the midst of our own doubts, pain, and questions. The word that speaks is one of hope, one of “God with us,” one of justice and mercy and walking humbly. Together with the Newer Testament, the Older Testament has proved itself for millennia - and in my own life - as the best clue to who God is, who we are, and who we are called to be. I love watching students who come in suspicious, indifferent, or even hostile to these ancient stories discover their surprising relevancy.”

* * *

“Preparing future ministers to use the Hebrew scriptures in the life of the Church, especially in relationship to the Church’s pastoral and social justice ministries, is the central focus of my teaching. As a feminist teacher, I am concerned about teaching methods that attend to a range of voices, male and female, from different cultures and theological perspectives, and about building a classroom ethos that is anti-racist, anti-sexist, and dialogical.”

Denominational Commitments/Other
Pertinent Activities

Member, United Church of Christ of
New Brighton
Member, Social Justice Committee of the MN Conference of the United Church of Christ

 

 
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