The Progressives’ Bible: How Scriptural Interpretation Built a More Just America
Date: Tuesday, April 29, 2025
Time: 07:30pm - 08:30pm
Location: Douglass Student Center, 100 George Street, New Brunswick
The Toby and Herbert Stolzer Annual Program
The Bible has long been a source of political fervor in America, both for conservative and progressive voices. Join professors Claudia Setzer (Manhattan University) and Gary A. Rendsburg (Rutgers University) for a conversation on how abolitionists, women's rights supporters, contemporary climate activists, and other social reformers saw (and see) their struggles in the Bible's narratives and characters, drawing on its verses to support their arguments.
A leading scholar of the Hebrew Bible and New Testament, Professor Setzer will share findings from her new book, The Progressives’ Bible: How Scriptural Interpretation Built a More Just America, which explores how use of the Bible has played a pivotal role in advancing some of the most significant social reform movements in American history. The book emphasizes the activism of women, especially women of color, like Maria Stewart, Septima Clark, and Fannie Lou Hamer, while also considering the works of crucial historical figures like Frederick Douglass and Martin Luther King, Jr. It also describes contemporary social justice movements that draw strength from biblical and religious traditions, from Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant perspectives.
Claudia Setzer, professor of religious studies emerita at Manhattan University, is a New Testament scholar with a focus on early Jewish-Christian relations, the development of belief in resurrection, feminist interpretation of Scripture, and the Bible in American culture. In addition to The Progressives’ Bible: How Scriptural Interpretation Built a More Just America (Fortress Press, 2024), her books include The Bible in the American Experience, coauthored with David Shefferman (Society of Biblical Literature, 2020); The Bible and American Culture: A Sourcebook, coauthored with David Shefferman (Routledge, 2011); and Resurrection of the Body in Early Judaism and Early Christianity (Brill, 2004).
Gary A. Rendsburg is Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies and History and holds the Blanche and Irving Laurie Chair in Jewish History at Rutgers University. His teaching and research span the gamut of ancient and medieval Jewish history and culture, including Bible, ancient Israel, ancient Egypt, Hebrew language, Semitic languages, Dead Sea Scrolls, and medieval Hebrew manuscripts. He is the author of eight books, including How the Bible Is Written (Hendrickson, 2019); Solomon's Vineyard: Literary and Linguistic Studies in the Song of Songs, coauthored with Scott B. Noegel (Society of Biblical Literature, 2009); Hebrew in the Book of Kings (CDL Press, 2002); and a forthcoming book, The JPS Bible Commentary Series: First Samuel (Jewish Publication Society).
