Rev. Dr. Wil Gafney spoke with Andrew, Pastor Katie, and guest conversationalist Rev. Shalom Agtarap about womanist biblical scholarship, the ethics of and intentionality in translating the Bible, and how we might approach Advent in thoughtful ways mindful of how language continues to marginalize and oppress as well as liberate and lift up. Should we continue to use the word “slave” when translating the Bible? How do we listen to characters we often ignore or diminish when we hear scripture? What voices have been left out or are read out when using all encompassing group terms? Dr. Gafney challenges us to treat scripture with the seriousness with which a document around which we organize our life should be treated. We hope you find this conversation as helpful and hopeful as we did.

We encourage you to pick up her books, especially Womanist Midrash: A Reintroduction to Women of the Torah and to the Throne and her newest book A Women’s Lectionary for the Whole Church.

New to Rev. Dr. Wil Gafney’s work? Here is a bio from her website: Womanist biblical scholar, the Rev. Wil Gafney, Ph.D. is the Right Rev. Sam B. Hulsey Professor of Hebrew Bible at Brite Divinity School in Fort Worth, Texas. She is the author of Womanist Midrash: A Reintroduction to Women of the Torah and of the Throne, a commentary on Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah in the Wisdom series; Daughters of Miriam: Women Prophets in Ancient Israel; and co-editor of The Peoples’ Bible and The Peoples’ Companion to the Bible. She is the author of a Women’s Lectionary for the Whole Church and translator of its biblical selections; the first two volumes, Year A and W (a stand alone volume) were published in August. Volumes B and C are due in 2023 and 2024. She is currently writing a second volume of Womanist Midrash focusing on women in the Prophets. She is an Episcopal priest canonically resident in the Diocese of Pennsylvania and licensed in the Diocese of North 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.