Prof. Julie Faith Parker awarded the clement clarke moore medal at 2023 Commencement
Proclamation by the Board of Trustees:
The Rev. Dr. Julie Faith Parker – you have served as a professor at The General Theological Seminary since 2018. During your tenure in this place you have taught, co-taught, or had oversight of 26 course sections, with responsibility for 74 instructional credits. As a result, countless students have been shaped by your theological wisdom and creative pedagogy.
As a scholar, with research focused on ancient Near Eastern languages and cultures, feminist biblical interpretation and you have pioneered the field of childist biblical interpretation which looks to reframe our relationship to the text and place children at the center. You, in effect, created a new academic discipline, which is continuing to attract considerable attention. You have authored 7 books and your upcoming title Eve Isn’t Evil: Feminist Readings of the Bible to Upend Our Assumptions will certainly be an exciting and key text for anyone interested in understanding Scripture. In fact, we recommend that everyone pre-order the book on Amazon.
While here, you founded the General Prison Project, helping to build relationships between people who live inside prison and people who live outside of prisons as they move to grow in the multitude of experiences of God’s love. Students and alumni have been able to be a part of the movement of dedicated and compassionate humans across the city, and beyond, advocating for the closure of Rikers Island Jail, here in New York.
As a professor, students find you deeply engaging and pastoral. The creative ways that you bring ancient scriptures alive in the classroom stays with your students beyond their time in your classroom. And recently, a group of students funded a scholarship in your honor.
You are the rare talent of pastor-professor. You are United Methodist pastor, with membership here in the New York Annual Conference of the denomination and you have served in both the parish and in the academy forming and shepherding students as a university chaplain and a professor, leading parishioners, and teaching the future leaders of the world and church. You are a cutting edge, pioneering scholar who is defining a trajectory in the academy which is legacy building.
With your husband the Rev. Dr. Bill Crawford, you share your lovely children Mari and Graham, who have blossomed into fine young adults. Your presence here has been a gift to this institution and to the wider church. For all this, and more, the Board of General Theological Seminary is pleased to confer on you the Clement Clarke Moore Medal.
About Professor Parker’s Latest Book:
Eve Isn’t Evil: Feminist Readings of the Bible to Upend our Assumptions
“An amazing book of power, insight, and challenge”
~ Phyllis Trible
On September 12th, Julie Faith Parker’s eighth book, Eve Isn’t Evil: Feminist Readings of the Bible to Upend Our Assumptions, will be released (Baker Academic). Combining biblical scholarship with personal stories, Eve Isn’t Evil offers a new approach to biblical interpretation that reaches both mind and heart. This book makes feminist scholarship not only accessible but enjoyable as all readers are invited to discover the gifts of feminism: self-respect, opportunity, and joy.
As she explains at the outset, Dr. Parker was prompted to write this book from a personal spiritual experience. She shares this story and many others as she conveys biblical information and theological insight. Readers gain knowledge about a complicated text in a way that feels approachable and relevant to our everyday lives.
Most of Eve Isn’t Evil focuses primarily on the Hebrew Bible (which were Jesus’ scriptures!), with a chapter devoted to the New Testament. The opening of the book, “In the Beginning . . .” offers a foundation for further reading. One of the chapters, “Guns and Psalms,” intertwines knowledge from Dr. Parker’s class on the book of Psalms with moments of fearing for her life. Another, entitled “Song of Songs in Sing Sing,” connects biblical characters who commit crimes with Dr. Parker’s experience of teaching in this notorious maximum-security prison. Additional features include questions for reflection and conversation at the end of each chapter to facilitate the book’s use in classrooms and congregations. An appendix, “Bible Basics,” answers the “who what where when and why” questions about the Bible, then summarizes each book of the Bible in one line. Eve Isn’t Evil is simultaneously scholarly and heartwarming and, at times, even humorous, as it connects with readers in vulnerable, intellectual, and meaningful ways.
Already prior to publication, Eve Isn’t Evil has generated great enthusiasm. Dr. Phyllis Trible, the founder of feminist biblical interpretation, hails it as “an amazing book of power, insight, and challenge.” Dr. Javier Viera, President of Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, describes this book as “a remarkable work of scholarship and storytelling.” And New York Times best-selling author Shauna Neiquist declares, “I’m so grateful for the way Parker has made her brilliant academic work accessible and inspiring to non-scholars (like me!). This book reshaped parts of my heart, my mind, and my faith—it’s a must-read.”