Wilda C. Gafney

{{Short description|American biblical scholar (born 1966)}} {{Infobox academic | honorific_prefix =  | name = Wilda C. Gafney | honorific_suffix = | image = Wilda C Gafney.jpg | image_size = | alt = Wil Gafney | caption = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | birth_name =  | birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1966}} | birth_place = | death_date =  | death_place = | death_cause = | nationality =  | citizenship =  | other_names = Wil Gafney | occupation = Episcopal priest, professor | period = | known_for = | title = | boards =  | spouse = | partner = | children = | parents = | relatives = | awards =  | website = https://www.wilgafney.com/ | education = {{Unbulleted list|Earlham College {{Small|(B.A.)}} |Howard University {{Small|(M.Div.)}} |Duke University {{Small|(Ph.D.)}} }} | alma_mater =  | thesis_title = | thesis_url = | thesis_year = | school_tradition = | doctoral_advisor = | academic_advisors = | influences =  | era = | discipline = Hebrew Bible | sub_discipline =  | workplaces = Texas Christian University | doctoral_students =  | notable_students = | main_interests = | notable_works = Daughters of Miriam: Women Prophets in Ancient Israel | notable_ideas = | influenced =  | signature = | signature_alt = | signature_size = | footnotes = }} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2021}} '''Wilda C. Gafney''', also known as '''Wil Gafney''', (born 1966) is an American biblical scholar and Episcopal priest who is the Right Rev. Sam B. Hulsey Professor of Hebrew Bible at Brite Divinity School of Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas. She is specialist in womanist biblical interpretation, and topics including gender and race.

==Early life and education== Gafney's parents were both teachers, who divorced when she was young.<ref name=RNS>{{cite web|url=https://religionnews.com/2021/03/03/wil-gafney-anti-racism-as-a-spiritual-practice/|title=Wil Gafney, "Anti-Racism as a Spiritual Practice"|date=March 3, 2021|access-date=April 16, 2021|first=Simran Jeet|last=Singh|publisher=Religion News Service}}</ref> She grew up attending a non-denominational church, was baptized in an African Methodist Episcopal Church, and attended a Catholic high school.<ref name="RNS" />

Gafney earned a BA from Earlham College, a Quaker institution, in 1987, where she was one of only seven Black students on a campus of over 1000 students.<ref name="MC">{{cite web|last=Aycock|first=Jennifer|date=March 14, 2011|title=Rev. Dr. Wil Gafney on King's Legacy and Influence|url=https://mccormick.edu/news/rev-dr-wil-gafney-kings-legacy-and-influence|access-date=April 16, 2021|publisher=McCormick Theological Seminary}}</ref> She completed a Master's of Divinity from Howard University, an historically black college, in 1997.<ref name="bio">{{cite web|url=https://www.brite.edu/staff/wil-gafney/|title=Wil Gafney: Professor of Hebrew Bible|publisher=Brite Divinity School}}</ref> She completed a PhD in Hebrew Bible from Duke University in 2006,<ref name="bio" /> where she was mentored by Roland E. Murphy.<ref name="MC" /> Her doctoral dissertation became her first book, ''Daughters of Miriam'', a study of female prophets in ancient Israel.<ref name="RNS" />

==Career== Gafney is an Episcopal priest.<ref name=wp>{{cite web|url=https://www.workingpreacher.org/authors/wil-gafney|title=Biography|publisher=Working Preacher}}</ref> She was a US Army Reserve chaplain and a congregational pastor in the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, as well as a member of Dorshei Derekh,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Putman |first=Janene Cates |date=2019-01-07 |title=An Interview with Rev. Wil Gafney, Ph.D. |url=https://eewc.com/an-interview-with-dr-wil-gafney/ |access-date=2022-05-12 |website=Christian Feminism Today |language=en-US}}</ref> a Reconstructionist Jewish congregation in Philadelphia.<ref>{{cite podcast|url=https://onscript.study/podcast/wil-gafney-womanist-midrash/|website=On Script|title=Wil Gafney – Womanist Midrash|host=Matthew Lynch|date=January 12, 2021}}</ref>

Gafney's first teaching position was in the Lutheran Theological Seminaries at Philadelphia and at Gettysburg, beginning in 2003.<ref name=RNS/> In 2014, she was appointed associate professor of Hebrew Bible at Brite Divinity School at Texas Christian University.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://brite.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Dr-Gafney.pdf|title=Dr. Wil Gafney joins Brite Divinity School faculty|first=Vanessa|last=Daley|publisher=Texas Christian University|date=February 20, 2014|access-date=April 16, 2021}}</ref> In 2018, she served on a committee that recommended that the U.S. Episcopal Church's 1979 ''Book of Common Prayer'' be changed to gender neutral language.<ref name="Zauzmer 2018">{{cite news |last1=Zauzmer |first1=Julie |title=Is God male? The Episcopal Church debates whether to change its Book of Common Prayer. |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2018/07/03/is-god-male-the-episcopal-church-debates-whether-to-change-its-book-of-common-prayer/ |access-date=26 May 2021 |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=July 3, 2018}}</ref>

Gafney's research focuses on intersections between the biblical text and contemporary issues, and she has taught courses called "The Bible and Black Lives Matter", "Exodus in African American Exegesis", and "The Bible in the Public Square".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://theoed.com/wil-gafney|title=Wil Gafney|publisher=TheoEd}}</ref> She is on the editorial team for the ''Journal of Biblical Literature''.<ref name=bio/> Her book ''Womanist Midrash'' uses womanist and feminist hermeneutics to interpret passages from the Hebrew Scriptures.<ref name="Lovelace 2018" />

From 2012 to 2013, Gafney wrote a series of articles for the ''Huffington Post'' on topics including sexual violence and civil rights.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.huffpost.com/author/rev-wil-gafney-phd|title=Contributor: Rev. Wil Gafney, Ph.D.|publisher=Huffington Post}}</ref><ref name="Flock 2012">{{cite news |last1=Flock |first1=Elizabeth |title=Eddie Long crowned 'king'; religious leaders aren't impressed |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/blogpost/post/eddie-long-crowned-king-religious-leaders-arent-impressed/2012/02/03/gIQAXWQxmQ_blog.html |access-date=28 May 2021 |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=February 3, 2012}}</ref> In June 2018, in response to Jeff Sessions quoting Romans 13 to defend President Donald Trump's policy of separating children from their parents at the border, Gafney wrote an article for Religion Dispatches titled "If We Did Use the Bible to Run the Country...."<ref>{{cite web|title=If We Did Use the Bible to Run the Country...|url=https://rewirenewsgroup.com/religion-dispatches/2018/06/18/use-bible-run-country/|first=Wil|last=Gafney|publisher=Rewire News Group|date=June 18, 2018|access-date=April 16, 2021}}</ref> In September 2020, Gafney participated in "Scholar Strike", an initiative inspired by the strikes by athletes to call attention to racial injustice in the US. Gafney posted a video to the Scholar Strike YouTube page titled "White Supremacy in Biblical Interpretation."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tcu360.com/2020/09/professors-participate-in-scholar-strike-to-advocate-for-racial-justice/|title=Professors participate in Scholar Strike to advocate for racial justice|first=Renee|last=Umsted|publisher=TCU Race and Reconciliation Initiative|date=September 11, 2020|access-date=April 16, 2021}}</ref> After many journalists called January 6, 2021, a "dark day", Gafney responded, "Today was not a 'dark day'. Today was a white day. One of the whitest days in American history."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://churchanew.org/blog/posts/aana-vigen-the-whitest-epiphany-white-christians-where-do-we-go-from-here|first=Aana Maria|last=Vigen|publisher=Church Anew|date=January 13, 2021|access-date=April 16, 2021|title=Jan. 6 Was the Whitest Epiphany: White Christians, Where Do We Go from Here?}}</ref>

==Awards and honors== In 2019, the Union of Black Episcopalians presented Gafney with the Anna Julia Haywood Cooper Honor Award for her scholarship and advocacy on matters of race and gender.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/pressreleases/union-of-black-episcopalians-plans-51st-annual-gathering-will-honor-four-leaders-within-the-episcopal-church/|title=Union of Black Episcopalians plans 51st annual gathering, will honor four leaders within The Episcopal Church|date=June 20, 2019|access-date=April 16, 2021|publisher=Episcopal News Service}}</ref> In 2020, the Society of Biblical Literature named her one of the first two recipients of its Outstanding Mentor Award.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://episcopaldiocesefortworth.org/the-rev-dr-wil-gafney-named-outstanding-mentor-by-society-of-biblical-literature/|title=The Rev Dr Wil Gafney named Outstanding Mentor by the Society of Biblical Literature|publisher=The Episcopal Church in North Texas|date=August 27, 2020|access-date=April 16, 2021|first=Katie|last=Sherrod}}</ref>

==Selected publications== ===Books=== * {{cite book |ref=none|date=2008|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_nIzOlSC_AcC|first=Wilda|last=Gafney|title=Daughters of Miriam: Women Prophets in Ancient Israel|publisher=Fortress Press|isbn = 9780800662585}}<ref name="Kelle 2008">{{cite journal |last1=Kelle |first1=Brad E. |title=Daughters of Miriam: Women Prophets in Ancient Israel – By Wilda C. Gafney |journal=Religious Studies Review |date=December 2008 |volume=34 |issue=4 |pages=284–285 |doi=10.1111/j.1748-0922.2008.00322_1.x |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1748-0922.2008.00322_1.x |access-date=28 May 2021|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name="Frankel 2008">{{cite journal |last1=Frankel |first1=Ellen |title=Daughters of Miriam: Women Prophets in Ancient Israel |journal=Biblical Interpretation |date=2010 |volume=18 |issue=4–5 |pages=280–282 |doi=10.1163/156851508X378959 |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/bi/18/4-5/article-p280_1.xml |access-date=28 May 2021|url-access=subscription }}</ref> * {{cite book |ref=none |editor1-last=DeYoung |editor1-first=Curtiss Paul |editor2-last=Gafney |editor2-first=Wilda C. |editor3-last=Guardiola-Saenz |editor3-first=Leticia |editor4-last=Tinker |editor4-first=George E. |editor5-last=Yamada |editor5-first=Frank M. |title=The Peoples' Bible |date=2008 |publisher=Fortress Press |isbn=9780806656250}}<ref name="Thomas 2009">{{cite journal |last1=Thomas |first1=Oral |title=George 'Tink' Tinker, Wilda C. Gafney, Frank M. Yamada, et al., eds, The Peoples' Bible |journal=Black Theology |date=2009 |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=241–242 |doi=10.1558/blth.v7i2.241 |s2cid=141933576 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1558/blth.v7i2.241 |access-date=28 May 2021|url-access=subscription }}</ref> * {{cite book |ref=none|title=The Peoples' Companion to the Bible|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z5LsAQAACAAJ|first1=Curtiss Paul|last1=DeYoung|first2=Wil|last2=Gafney|first3=Leticia A.|last3=Guardiola-Saenez|year=2010|publisher=Fortress Press|isbn = 9780800697020}} * {{cite book |ref=none|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4kL4sgEACAAJ|title=Womanist Midrash: A Reintroduction to the Women of the Torah and the Throne|first=Wilda C.|last=Gafney|publisher=Presbyterian Publishing Corporation|year=2017|isbn=9780664239039}}<ref name="Lovelace 2018">{{cite journal |last1=Lovelace |first1=Vanessa |title=Womanist Midrash: A Reintroduction to the Women of the Torah and the Throne, written by Wilda C. Gafney |journal=Horizons in Biblical Theology |date=2018 |volume=40 |issue=2 |pages=212–215 |doi=10.1163/18712207-12341379 |s2cid=171667828 |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/hbth/40/2/article-p212_7.xml |access-date=28 May 2021|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=del Rosario |first1=Joyce |title=Womanist Midrash: A Reintroduction to the Women of the Torah and the Throne, by Wilda C. Gafney |journal=Pneuma |date=2018 |volume=40 |issue=4 |pages=613–615 |doi=10.1163/15700747-04004014 |s2cid=239503306 |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/pneu/40/4/article-p613_23.xml |access-date=28 May 2021|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name="PW 2017">{{cite news |last1=Clutterbuck-Cook |first1=Hanna |title=Fresh Looks at the Bible |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/religion/article/75338-fresh-looks-at-the-bible.html |access-date=28 May 2021 |work=Publishers Weekly |date=November 10, 2017}}</ref> * {{cite book |ref=none|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=STg1DwAAQBAJ|first=Wilda C. N.|last=Gafney|title=Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah|publisher=Liturgical Press|date=2017|series=Wisdom Commentary|volume=38|isbn=9780814681879}} * {{cite book |ref=none|year=2021|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qmhUzgEACAAJ|first=Wilda|last=Gafney|title=A Women's Lectionary for the Whole Church: Year A|publisher=Church Publishing|isbn = 9781640651623}}

===Chapters and articles=== * {{cite journal |ref=none|url=https://www.proquest.com/openview/84bdeb0ba62d4047c6656748d491be8c/1|last=Gafney|first=Wilda CM. |title=A Black Feminist Approach to Biblical Studies|journal=Encounter |volume=67|number=4|year=2006|page=391}} * {{cite book |ref=none|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d4rXNwAACAAJ|chapter=Reading the Hebrew Bible Responsibly|first=Wilda|last=Gafney|year=2010|editor1=Randall C. Bailey|editor2=Valerie Bridgeman|editor3=Samuel Murrell|editor4=Rodney S. Sadler Jr.|publisher=Fortress Press|pages=45–51|title=The Africana Bible: Reading Israel's Scriptures from Africa and the African Diaspora|isbn=9780800621254}} * {{cite book |ref=none|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d4rXNwAACAAJ|chapter=Ruth|first=Wilda|last=Gafney|year=2010|editor1=Randall C. Bailey|editor2=Valerie Bridgeman|editor3=Samuel Murrell|editor4=Rodney S. Sadler Jr.|publisher=Fortress Press|pages=249–254|title=The Africana Bible: Reading Israel's Scriptures from Africa and the African Diaspora|isbn=9780800621254}} * {{cite journal |ref=none|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1558/blth.v9i2.161|first=Wilda|last=Gafney|title=A Prophet-Terrorist(a) and an Imperial Sympathizer: An Empire-Critical, Postcolonial Reading Of The No'adyah/Nechemyah Conflict|journal=Black Theology |volume=9|number=2|date=July 2011|pages=161–176|doi=10.1558/blth.v9i2.161|s2cid=144851964|url-access=subscription}} * {{cite book |ref=none|first=Wilda|last=Gafney|chapter=It Does Matter If You're Black or White, Too Black or Too White, but Mestizo is Just Right|title= Re-Presenting Texts: Jewish and Black Biblical Interpretation|publisher=Gorgias Press|editor1=W. David Nelson|editor2=Rivka Ulmer|year=2013|isbn=9781611439243|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vu0NKQEACAAJ}} * {{cite book |ref=none|chapter=A Womanist Midrash on Zipporah|first=Wil|last=Gafney|title=I Found God in Me: A Womanist Biblical Hermeneutics Reader|editor=Mitzi J. Smith|publisher=Fortress|pages=131–157|year=2015}} * {{cite book |ref=none|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7TQSDAEACAAJ|chapter=Womanist Midrash of Delilah: Don't Hate the Playa Hate the Game|title=Womanist Interpretations of the Bible: Expanding the Discourse|editor1=Gay L. Byron|editor2=Vanessa Lovelace|publisher=Society of Biblical Literature|date=2016|first=Wil|last=Gafney|pages=|isbn=9780884141853}} * {{cite journal |ref=none|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.15699/jbl.1361.2017.1363|title=A Reflection on the Black Lives Matter Movement and Its Impact on My Scholarship|first=Wil|last=Gafney|journal=Journal of Biblical Literature|date=217|volume=136|number=1|pages=204–207|doi=10.15699/jbl.1361.2017.1363|jstor=10.15699/jbl.1361.2017.1363|url-access=subscription}}

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links==  * {{official website|https://www.wilgafney.com/}} (The Rev. Wil Gafney, Ph.D.)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gafney, Wil}} Category:Living people Category:1966 births Category:Earlham College alumni Category:Howard University alumni Category:Duke University alumni Category:African Methodist Episcopal Church clergy Category:20th-century American Episcopal priests Category:21st-century American Episcopal priests Category:Texas Christian University faculty Category:21st-century American biblical scholars Category:African-American biblical scholars Category:American women biblical scholars Category:Feminist biblical scholars Category:Womanist theologians Category:21st-century African-American academics Category:21st-century American academics