The Bampton Lectures 2025 | Wading in the Word: Womanist Biblical Interpretation

The Bampton Lectures, founded by the will of the Revd John Bampton (1690-1751), first took place at the University Church in 1780. Over the centuries, these prestigious lectures, sometimes courting controversy, always intellectually stimulating, have covered a range of theological subjects. It is a condition of the Bampton Bequest that the lectures are published by the Lecturer. These lectures are delivered every year.

These lectures are livestreamed on our YouTube channel. 

2025: Wading in the Word: Womanist Biblical Interpretation

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The Rev. Dr. Wil Gafney, Ph.D. is a biblical scholar whose work focuses on translation of the scriptures for congregations and lay readers, womanist and feminist biblical interpretation and, women who prophesied in ancient Israel and the ancient Afro-Asiatic world and, their reception in rabbinic literature. She is the Right Rev. Sam B. Hulsey Professor of Hebrew Bible at Brite Divinity School in Fort Worth, Texas. She is the author of A Women’s Lectionary for the Whole Church Years A, B and C and a novel Year W (a stand-alone volume) and, translator of its biblical selections. She is the author of Womanist Midrash: A Reintroduction to Women of the Torah and of the Throne and its sequel, Womanist Midrash: A Reintroduction to Women of Joshua Judges, Samuel and Kings along with a commentary on Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah in the Wisdom series and, Daughters of Miriam: Women Prophets in Ancient Israel. She co-edited The Peoples’ Bible and The Peoples’ Companion to the Bible.

Dr. Gafney is an Episcopal priest canonically resident in the Diocese of Pennsylvania and licensed in the Diocese of Texas and, a former Army chaplain and congregational pastor in the AME Zion Church. A former member of the Dorshei Derekh Reconstructionist Minyan of the Germantown Jewish Center in Philadelphia, she has co-taught courses with and for the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Seminary in Wyncote, PA. Her lectures and sermons are widely sought after in academic and Jewish and Christian congregational spaces in the US and in the UK. She is a public facing religious scholar, preacher, teacher, activist and, an amateur watercolorist.

Tuesday 20 May 2025

10.00am                             Crystal Clear Until You Look: The Waters of Translation

11.30am                             Getting our Feet Wet: Close Reading with Womanist Eyes

Tuesday 27 May 2025

10.00am                              A World Beneath the Waves: Womanist Midrash

11.30am                             Take Me to the Water: A Women's Lectionary for the Whole Church

These lectures will be in person and livestreamed from the University Church. For graduate students, there will be an additional seminar to discuss the themes of the lectures. All welcome.

For further information: www.universitychurch.ox.ac.uk/content/bampton-lectures

Kind Regards,

Ana-Maria