Joseph A. Marchal is Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Women's and Gender Studies Affiliated Faculty, at Ball State University (USA). His research and teaching focus upon biblical studies and critical theories of interpretation, especially feminist, postcolonial, and queer perspectives and practices. Most recently, he is the author of Philippians: Historical Problems, Hierarchical Visions, Hysterical Anxieties (Sheffield Phoenix, 2014), The Politics of Heaven: Women, Gender, and Empire in the Study of Paul (Fortress Press, 2008), and editor of Studying Paul's Letters: Contemporary Perspectives and Methods (Fortress, 2012). While he is currently preparing a second edited collection (on people's history approaches), he is most particularly focused upon finishing a larger study implementing newer queer approaches to interrogate and resituate the places Pauline epistles and interpretations deploy a series of strangely gendered figures. Among other roles Marchal has served as the Chair of the Gender, Sexuality, and the Bible Section and currently co-chairs the Paul and Politics Seminar (of the Society of Biblical Literature).
What does it mean to engage in feminist conversations about religion online? Is there something that makes the meeting of “feminisms” and “religions” unique, even important? As a member of the board of the Feminism in Religion forum, I am sometimes called upon to answer these questions, by conversation partners, potential contributors, friends, and loved […]
I rarely find it difficult to teach about Sodomy. Recent events here in Indiana have, unfortunately, made this biblical story even more relevant. Over a week ago, Governor Mike Pence signed the “Religious Freedom Restoration Act,” flanked by a number of conservatively religious lobbyists. When I was asked to comment on such “right to refuse” […]
Like many others, I was shocked and dismayed at the recent news of José Esteban Muñoz’s untimely death (on December 4), at the early age of 46. (See also the notices here, here, and here.) I always thought there would be time to meet Muñoz in person, having spent so […]
It’s that time of the year again… yes, it is the beginning (or is it the middle already?) of the U.S. version of “the holidays.” But, in a related fashion, what I’m currently thinking about is that time of the semester again. Specifically, we just finished our ritual week in my introductory course, a week […]
Wednesday, May 9, 2012 might just turn out to be a historic day: a day in which a sitting president of the United States of America claimed his (at least personal) support for gays and lesbians (but not bisexual or transgendered people?) to have legal access to marriage. Certainly, for at least some LGBTIQ organizations […]
In my intimate circles, Oscar Sunday is a holy day of obligation. And, as with most holidays, the longer I keep it, the more ambivalently I feel about it. There are a host of issues around these films and the industry that generates them, not the least being the way Hollywood reflects and, worse, constructs […]