{{Short description|American ordained Presbyterian minister, Bible professor and author}} {{Infobox scholar | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | name = | fullname = | other_names = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1926|6|11|df=y}} | birth_place = Bartlesville, Oklahoma, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|2002|10|25|1926|6|11}} | death_place = Richmond, Virginia, U.S. | era = | region = | education = Stanford University<br/>Union Presbyterian Seminary<br/>Columbia University (Ph.D.) | school_tradition = | main_interests = | notable_ideas = | major_works = | influences = | influenced = | awards = | spouse = Paul J. Achtemeier | children = 2 }} '''Elizabeth Rice Achtemeier''' (June 11, 1926 – October 25, 2002) was an American ordained Presbyterian minister, Bible professor, and author.
==Early life and education== Born Elizabeth Rice on June 11, 1926, in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, Achtemeier was raised in the Presbyterian Church (USA), in which her grandfather had been a minister.<ref name=WBI>{{cite book|title=Handbook of Women Biblical Interpreters|chapter=Achtemeier, Elizabeth Rice|pages=23–27|first=Beverly|last=Zink-Sawyer|editor-first=Marion Ann|editor-last=Taylor|publisher=Baker Academic|year=2012}}</ref> She had three older brothers.<ref name=auto>{{cite book|first=Elizabeth|last=Achtemeier|title=Not Til I Have Done: A Personal Testimony|place=Louisville|publisher=Westminster John Knox|year=1999}}{{rp|14}}</ref> She completed undergraduate studies at Stanford University and studied at Union Theological Seminary in New York from 1948 until 1951.<ref name=WBI/> In the summer of 1950, she was an associate pastor and preacher for a Congregational Church in rural New Hampshire.<ref name=auto/>{{rp|16}} She did postgraduate work at Heidelberg University in Germany and Basel University in Switzerland<ref name=obit/> and completed her PhD at Columbia University under James Muilenburg in 1959.<ref name=WBI/>
==Career== Achtemeier began teaching the Old Testament at Lancaster Theological Seminary while completing her PhD, teaching there until 1973.<ref name=WBI/><ref name=obit/> In 1973, her husband joined the all-male faculty of Union Theological Seminary as Professor of New Testament, and Achtemeier was offered an appointment as visiting, later adjunct, professor of Old Testament and visiting professor of homiletics, which she held until 1996.<ref name=WBI/><ref name=obit/> She was also a visiting professor at Gettysburg Lutheran Seminary, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and Duke Divinity School.<ref name=obit/>
Achtemeier was an ordained Presbyterian minister and a "nationally known preacher."<ref name=obit/> She served on the denomination's Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity and Purity.<ref name=obit/> Often the first or lone female in various roles she took on, she identified as an evangelical and spoke against what she called "radical feminism."<ref name=auto/>{{rp|19–20}} She spoke and wrote against the ordination of homosexual ministers<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mcall.com/news/mc-xpm-1996-05-19-3090969-story.html|title=Homosexual Ordination Splitting Church Leaders: Policies Vary, but All Denominations Seem Affected by the Issue|first=Mary|last=Rourke|work=The Los Angeles Times|publisher=The Morning Call|date=May 19, 1996|access-date=March 16, 2019}}</ref> and against the church adopting female language for God.<ref>{{cite book|title=Speaking the Christian God:The Holy Trinity and the Challenge of Feminism|chapter=Exchanging God for “No Gods”: A Discussion of Female Language for God|year=1992|first=Elizabeth|last=Achtemeier|editor-first=Alvin F.| editor-last=Kimel|publisher=Eerdmans|pages=1–16|isbn=9780802806123|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FozEmWiNetEC}}</ref>
Achtemeier wrote more than twenty books, as well as numerous articles, the majority focusing on the Old Testament and its use in Christian preaching.<ref name=WBI/> Her first book, co-authored with her husband, ''The Old Testament Roots of Our Faith'' was published in 1962. Her most well known book, ''The Old Testament and the Proclamation of the Gospel'' was published in 1973. She also wrote on marriage, family, sexuality, abortion and environmental issues.<ref name=WBI/> She preached and taught at numerous churches and university chapels across the United States and Canada.<ref name=WBI/> In 1999, she published an autobiography, ''Not Til I Have Done''.<ref name=WBI/>
==Personal life== Achtemeier met Paul J. Achtemeier at seminary and they married in June 1952.<ref name=WBI/> They had two children and coauthored several books and articles.<ref name=WBI/> Their son, Mark, teaches systematic theology at Dubuque Theological Seminary.<ref name=obit/> Achtemeier died on October 25, 2002, after a long illness.<ref name=obit>{{cite web|url=https://layman.org/newsc398/|title=Elizabeth Achtemeier, noted Bible professor, dies after illness|date=October 28, 2002|access-date=March 16, 2019|work=The Layman: A Ministry of the Presbyterian Lay Committee}}</ref>
==Publications== ===Books=== * {{cite book|title=The Old Testament Roots of Our Faith|first1=Elizabeth|last1=Achtemeier|first2=Paul J.|last2=Achtemeier|year=1962|place=Nashville|publisher=Abingdon|isbn=9780801045417|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MtVIcgAACAAJ}} * {{cite book|title=The Old Testament and the Proclamation of the Gospel|url=https://archive.org/details/oldtestamentthe00acht|url-access=registration|first=Elizabeth|last=Achtemeier|year=1973|place=Philadelphia|publisher=Westminster}} * {{cite book|title=The Committed Marriage|place=Philadelphia|publisher=Westminster|year=1976|first=Elizabeth|last=Achtemeier|url=https://archive.org/details/committedmarriag00acht|url-access=registration}} * {{cite book|first=Elizabeth|last=Achtemeier|title=Creative Preaching|year=1980|place=Nashville|publisher=Abingdon}} * {{cite book|first=Elizabeth|last=Achtemeier|title=Preaching About Family Relationships|url=https://archive.org/details/preachingaboutfa0000acht|url-access=registration|year=1987|place=Philadelphia|publisher=Westminster}} * {{cite book|first=Elizabeth|last=Achtemeier|title=Preaching from the Old Testament|year=1989|publisher=Westminster John Knox|isbn=9780664250423|place=Louisville|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3BYUhL_nvtkC}} * {{cite book|first=Elizabeth|last=Achtemeier|title=So You're Looking for a New Preacher: A Guide for Pulpit Nominating Committees|year=1991|publisher=Eerdmans}} * {{cite book|first=Elizabeth|last=Achtemeier|title=Nature, God, and Pulpit|year=1992|publisher=Eerdmans|place=Grand Rapids}} * {{cite book|first1=Terry|last1=Schlossberg|first2=Elizabeth Rice|last2=Achtemeier|title=Not My Own: Abortion and the Marks of the Church|url=https://archive.org/details/notmyownabortion00schl|url-access=registration|year=1995|publisher=Eerdmans}} * {{cite book|first=Elizabeth|last=Achtemeier|title=Minor Prophets I|series=New International Biblical Commentary|publisher=Hendrickson|year=1996|isbn=9780943575056|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0cyLJkyWSpAC}} * {{cite book|first=Elizabeth Rice|last=Achtemeier|title=Preaching Hard Texts of the Old Testament|year=1998|publisher=Hendrickson|url=https://archive.org/details/preachinghardtex0000acht|url-access=registration}} * {{cite book|first=Elizabeth Rice|last=Achtemeier|title=Preaching from the Minor Prophets: Texts and Sermon Suggestions|publisher=Eerdmans|year=1998|isbn=9780802843708|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3o3EUuUv5TUC}} * {{cite book|first=Elizabeth|last=Achtemeier|title=Not Til I Have Done: A Personal Testimony|place=Louisville|publisher=Westminster John Knox|year=1999}} * {{cite book|first=Elizabeth|last=Achtemeier|title=Nahum-Malachi|series=Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching|place=Louisville|publisher=Westminster John Knox|year=2011|isbn=9781611644760|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k6R1BwAAQBAJ}}
===Articles=== * {{cite journal|journal=Christian Century|title=Covenanting: New Directions for Ecumenism|year=1984|first=Elizabeth|last=Achtemeier|pages=1014}} * {{cite book|title=The Hermeneutical Quest: Essays in Honor of James Luther Mays on His Sixty-fifth Birthday|chapter=Female Language for God: Should the Church Adopt it?|year=1986|first=Elizabeth|last=Achtemeier|editor-first=Donald G.|editor-last=Miller|publisher=Wipf and Stock|pages=97–114|isbn=9780802806123|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FozEmWiNetEC}} * {{cite journal|journal=Interpretation|title=The Impossible Possibility: Evaluating the Feminist Approach to Bible and Theology|first=Elizabeth|last=Achtemeier|volume=42|date=January 1988|pages=45–57|doi=10.1177/002096438804200105|s2cid=169513311}} * {{cite book|title=Speaking the Christian God:The Holy Trinity and the Challenge of Feminism|chapter=Exchanging God for “No Gods”: A Discussion of Female Language for God|year=1992|first=Elizabeth|last=Achtemeier|editor-first=Alvin F.| editor-last=Kimel|publisher=Eerdmans|pages=1–16|isbn=9780802806123|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FozEmWiNetEC}} * {{cite journal|journal=Christian Century|title=Debating Evolution: The God Who Would Intervene|year=1999|first=Elizabeth|last=Achtemeier}} * {{cite journal|journal=ReNew|title=The Scriptural Basis for Women in Ministry|year=2000|first=Elizabeth|last=Achtemeier|volume=11|number=3}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * [https://n2t.net/ark:/87924/r4d21s03t "What We Were Meant to Be"], Elizabeth Achtemeier, Duke University Chapel, March 6, 1994
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Achtemeier, Elizabeth}} Category:1926 births Category:2002 deaths Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers Category:20th-century American Presbyterian ministers Category:20th-century American women writers Category:20th-century Christian biblical scholars Category:21st-century American non-fiction writers Category:21st-century American Presbyterian ministers Category:21st-century American women writers Category:21st-century Christian biblical scholars Category:American religious writers Category:20th-century American women academics Category:American women non-fiction writers Category:Bible commentators Category:Calvinist and Reformed biblical scholars Category:Columbia University alumni Category:American women biblical scholars Category:People from Bartlesville, Oklahoma Category:Presbyterian writers Category:Stanford University alumni Category:Union Presbyterian Seminary alumni Category:Union Presbyterian Seminary faculty Category:Women Christian clergy Category:21st-century American biblical scholars Category:20th-century American biblical scholars