Karla Bohmbach
Professor of Religious Studies
Education
PHD, Duke University
MA, Duke University
BA, Saint Olaf College
About Me
The intellectual exploration of religious questions is a grounding force in my life, shaping much of what I do both professionally and personally. I first encountered its fascinations as an undergrad in a Humanities seminar: a unit devoted to arguments for the existence of God both disoriented and intrigued me when I found myself simultaneously convinced by both Anselms’ and Aquinas’ rather incommensurate God proofs. How could this be? A commitment to the academic study of religion as my life’s work assumed more specific shape as a result of a semester study abroad, living and learning in the Old City of Jerusalem.
Currently, the specific kinds of questions that most animate me include: How do the various religions of the world treat women? What resources does the Bible provide for the dilemmas of global climate change and socio- economic injustices? What meaning and purpose might be wrested from biblical narratives that convey violence-especially violence against women? I enjoy exploring these questions both in and out of the classroom, with students and in my writing, at 体育买球 and in the religious community to which I belong.
For respite and recharging, 体育买球’s location in central Pennsylvania makes it easy to get off into the woods to ski, hike, meditate, and just “be.” As well, time with family and friends, and travel-both nationally and internationally-are important to me. (I’ve been to every state in the Union except two-the largest and the smallest.)
Professional Experience
HONORS/GRANTS
Participant, Colloquy on Religious Commitments in the Classroom, Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion, 2013-14
Honorary Faculty Member, Omicron Delta Kappa, 2011
Mini Grant for Research Support, 体育买球 University, 2006
Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers, 2005
NEH Challenge Grant (Arthur Vining David Fund), 体育买球 University, 2002
Lutheran Academy of Scholars in Higher Education, Division for Higher Education and Schools – ELCA, Harvard University, 2000
PUBLICATIONS
(BOOKS)
Eco-Lutheranism: Lutheran Perspectives on Ecology.Minneapolis, MN: Lutheran University Press, 2013 [co-edited with Shauna Hannan].
An Introduction to the Hebrew Bible: A Thematic Approach. Nashville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2008 [with Sandra L. Gravett, F. Volker Greifenhagen, and Donald C. Polaski].
(ARTICLES/ESSAYS ON FEMINIST INTERPRETATIONS OF THE HEBREW BIBLE)
“When It Both Is and Is Not Rape: Gender Constructions in 2 Samuel 13:1-22.” InCelebrate Her for the Fruit of Her Hands: Studies in Honor of Carol L. Meyers, Susan Ackerman and
Charles E.. Carter, ed. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns. 2015. Pgs. 61-80.
“Conventions/Contraventions: The Meanings of Public and Private for the Judges 19 Concubine.”Journal for the Study of the Old Testament83 (June 1999): 83-98.
“Women’s Names and Naming.” InWomen in Scripture, Carol L. Meyers, editor-in-chief. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 2000. Pgs. 33-39.
“Living on the Edge: The Liminality of Daughters in Genesis to 2 Samuel.” InA Feminist Companion to Samuel and Kings, edited by Athalya Brenner. Sheffield: Sheffield
Academic Press, 1994. Pgs. 26-42.
Dictionary entries (“Daughter of Jephthah,” “Companions of Jephthah’s Daughter,” “Daughters [and Sons] Who Prophesy,” “Daughter”) forWomen in Scripture, Carol L. Meyers, ed.-in-
chief. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 2000. Pgs. 243-44, 347, 517-19.
Dictionary entries (“Jezebel,” “Names and Naming”) for theEerdmans Dictionary of the Bible, D. N. Freedman, ed.-in-chief. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2000. Pgs. 713-14, 944-46.
(ARTICLES/ESSAYS ON PEDAGOGY)
“Learning Through Drawing,” InTeaching Theology & Religion17/4 (Oct 2014): 350-51.
“Teaching Gender in the Hebrew Bible.” InTeaching the Bible: an E-Pub for High School Teachers. Society of Biblical Literature. December, 2010.
Essay entries (“Debating Joseph,” “Comparing Portrayals of God,” “Role-Playing Biblical Narratives,” and “Acts 1-8 and the Early Church”) forTeaching the Bible: Practical Strategies for Classroom Instruction, edited by Mark Roncace and Patrick Gray. Atlanta: SBL Publications, 2005. Pgs. 108-9, 240-41, 247-48, 331-32
“A Tale of Two Teachers: How We Adapted the Same Graduate School Education to Two Different Institutional Realities,”Perspective in Religious Studies27/4 (Winter 2000): 427-33. [with Sandra L. Gravett]
“Teaching Students by Having Students Teach (Dealing with the ‘Problem’ Sections of a Course).”Teaching Theology & Religion3/3 (Oct. 2000): 170-76.
(ARTICLES/ESSAYS ADDRESSING LUTHERAN HIGHER EDUCATION)
“Introduction.” InEco-Lutheranism: Lutheran Perspectives on Ecology, Karla Bohmbach and Shauna Hannan, eds. Minneapolis, MN: Lutheran University Press, 2013. Pgs. 5-14.
“What Sort of Claim Does the Bible Have Today?” InHearing the Word: Lutheran Hermeneutics – A Vision of Life Under the Gospel, David C. Ratke, ed. Minneapolis, MN: Lutheran University Press, 2006. Pgs. 78-82.
“What Sort of Claims Does the Bible Have Today?”, “Rape: A Meditation on 2 Samuel 13,” and “The Sacrificing of Children: A Meditation on Judges 11,”Journal of Lutheran Ethics4/5 (May 2004). On-line journal.
“Of Fathers and Feminism: How One Lutheran Woman Came to a Vocation,”Intersections: faith + life + learning14 (Summer 2002): 31-40.