EFSR Welcomes Five New Board Members!
EFSR, the Web Board of FSR, Inc, welcomes five new members this year. Please welcome them by checking out their linked profiles below, as well as our current and past board membership for more information.
Sharon Jacob, Philips Theological Seminary
Sharon, a native of Bangalore India, is the Assistant Professor of New Testament at Philips Theological Seminary. She earned her B.A. from Bangalore University and her M.Div. from Lancaster Theological Seminary and M.S.T. from Yale University. She earned her Ph.D. from Drew University. Some of the courses that she has taught include: Reading the New Testament Through the Eyes of the Margins, Revelation: Then and Now, and Interpreting the Bible through Movement.
Research Interests: gender and sexuality studies, feminist theory, race and whiteness theory, and postcolonial theory.
Highlight: Check out Sharon’s new publication, Reading Mary Alongside Indian Surrogate Mothers: Violent Love, Oppressive Liberation, and Infancy Narratives (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015).
Peter Anthony Mena, Philips Theological Seminary
Peter is the Assistant Professor of the History of Christianity at Phillips Theological Seminary. His teaching and research interests focus on the history of Christianity in Late Antiquity. He received his Ph.D. from Drew University. He is currently a member of the board of directors for the Academy of Catholic Hispanic Theologians of the United States and is also a member of the steering committee for the American Academy of Religion History of Christianity section.
Research Interests: constructions of orthodoxy and heresy; gender, sexuality, and the body; and literary conceptions of space in late ancient Christian hagiography; critical theories of interpretation (queer, feminist, postcolonial); Chicana feminist theory.
Highlight: Check out Peter’s inaugural blog post at FSR, Inc.: “The Politics of Inclusion.”
Michal Raucher, University of Cincinnati
Michal is an Assistant Professor of Judaic Studies at the University of Cincinnati. After graduating from the Joint Program with The Jewish Theological Seminary and Columbia University, she went on to complete a M.A. degree in Bioethics from the University of Pennsylvania. She earned her Ph.D. at Northwestern University. Currently Michal is a JTS Fellow and a consultant for the UN Populations Fund. She has been awarded grants from the Fulbright Foundation, the Wenner Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture and the Crown Family Foundation.
Research Interests: sexuality and gender in Judaism, religion and bioethics, and abortion legislation in Israel.
Highlight: Michal recently received a prestigious grant award from the Israel Institute to continue her work on the shifting roles of women in modern Orthodox Judaism.
Michelle Voss Roberts, Wake Forest University
Michelle is Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and Associate Professor of Theology at Wake Forest University School of Divinity. She has degrees in Theological Studies from Emory University (Ph.D.), Candler School of Theology (M.T.S.), and Calvin College (B.A). She is currently working on a theological anthropology that explores neglected dimensions of human being, including the elements, organs of sense and action, and even limitations, as integral to a contemporary view of humanity.
Research Interests: systematic, comparative, and feminist theologies; Hindu-Christian studies.
Highlight: Check out Michelle’s inaugural blog post at FSR, Inc.: “Trans Summer.”
Najeeba Syeed, Claremont School of Theology
Najeeba is the Assistant Professor of Interreligious Education at Claremont School of Theology and Director of the Center for Global Peacebuilding. She earned her B.S. at Guilford College and her J.D. at Indiana University’s School of Law. She is the winner of multiple awards, including the Jon Anson Ford Award (2001, 2007) and California Mediation Association’s “Peacemaker of the Year” (2007). She serves as an advisor to local and federal agencies on interfaith dialogue, cooperation and public engagement, and youth conflict resolution.
Research Interests: mediation between law enforcement and communities, intersections of law with religious minority communities, interfaith-just peacemaking.
Highlight: Check out Najeeba’s work related to the new television series “Belief,” produced by Oprah Winfrey (OWN Network).
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