Dr. Lisa Marie Bowens to Speak at Newell Lectures Oct. 14
2 MIN. READ
Anderson, Ind. — The Anderson University School of Theology and Christian Ministry will host its annual Newell Lectures Oct. 14 in Miller Chapel. Dr. Lisa Marie Bowens, an associate professor of New Testament at Princeton Theological Seminary, will be the featured speaker.
“As with each year, I look forward to the opportunity for our students and the community at large to learn from top-rate biblical scholars through the Newell family’s commitment to this lecture series,” said Dr. Nathan Willowby, dean of the School of Theology and Christian Ministry. “Dr. Bowens has done important work in Pauline studies and we are fortunate to have her on our campus this October.”
Bowens earned a BS (cum laude), MSBE, and MLIS from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and an MTS and ThM from Duke Divinity School. She received her PhD from Princeton Theological Seminary and is the first African American woman to earn tenure in Princeton Theological Seminary’s Bible department where she teaches a variety of courses.
An award-winning author, she was designated by Patheos as one of the 50 New Testament Scholars to read and follow, and recently delivered the prestigious Speaker Lectures at Oxford University in 2023. She has written a number of articles and two books, An Apostle in Battle: Paul and Spiritual Warfare in 2 Corinthians 12:1-10 and African American Readings of Paul: Reception, Resistance, and Transformation. Her monograph, African American Readings of Paul, has won several awards and is the first book to trace historically African American interpretations from the 1700s to the Civil Rights Movement of the Apostle Paul and his letters.
She has also co-edited Preaching Romans From Here: Diverse Voices Engage Paul’s Most Famous Letter (with Scot McKnight and Joseph Modica) and Do Black Lives Matter?: How Christian Scriptures Speak to Black Empowerment (with Dennis Edwards). Among her current writing projects are two commentaries, one on 2 Corinthians and one on 1-2 Thessalonians. She is a member of a number of editorial boards and professional societies, including the Society of Biblical Literature, the Society of Pentecostal Studies, and the Society for the Study of Black Religion.
“Dr. Bowens is the type of biblical scholar who loves the Bible and loves the people who wrestle with the complexities of the Bible,” said Dr. Leanne Ketcham, assistant professor of preaching and practical theology. “Her work in Pauline apocalyptic interpretation and Pauline studies broadly have impacted both the church and the academy, particularly in conversations about spiritual warfare and African American readings of Paul to protest injustice and racism.”
Schedule
9 a.m. – Coffee gathering in Common Place Lounge at the School of Theology and Christian Ministry
10-10:45 a.m. – Lecture 1 – “Liberating Paul: African American Interpretive Trajectories of Pauline Scripture (18th-20th centuries)”
11-11:45 a.m. – Lecture 2 – “That Holy Fire: Interpretations of Paul by Early Black Women Preachers”
2-2:45 p.m. – Lecture 3 – “The Dialectic of Experience and Interpretation in Early Black Pauline Hermeneutics”
3-3:45 p.m. – Q&A
Anderson University is on a mission to educate students for lives of faith and service, offering more than 60 undergraduate majors, 30 three-year degrees, 20 NCAA Division III intercollegiate sports, alongside adult and graduate programs. The private, liberal arts institution is fully accredited and recognized among top colleges for its business, computer science, cybersecurity, dance, engineering, nursing, and teacher education programs. Anderson University was established in 1917 in Anderson, Indiana, by the Church of God.