Auckland Ecumenical Lay Preachers Gathering

The Bible and Violence

Auckland Ecumenical Lay Preachers Gathering

Dr Emily Colgan of Trinity Methodist Theological College will join us to explore Violence in the Bible.

The Bible is a book that’s filled with violence. Sometimes, it’s easy for us to recognize the violence being described in a text; at other times, it’s hidden in plain sight, and we might not even notice it’s there. What can we learn from biblical “texts of terror” that depict all manner of violence? And how might they speak to us about the violent acts, words, and ideas that we encounter in our world today? In this session, Emily will share her thoughts on the enduring significance of biblical violence and the ways that it can inform our own understandings of contemporary violence. There will also be time for Q&A and Emily challenges us – “Ask Me Anything!” (about the Bible!).

Dr Emily Colgan is Assoc Professor and the Ranston Lecturer in Biblical Studies at Trinity Methodist College, Auckland. Emily is a bit of a Bible nerd who is utterly passionate about biblical interpretation in
contemporary contexts.

After completing a conjoint degree in Arts (Māori Studies) and Theology (Biblical Studies), Emily pursued postgraduate qualifications in Biblical Studies (Hebrew Bible). She earned her PhD in Theology in 2015. Emily worked as a tutor and a lecturer at the University of Auckland throughout her doctoral study. After submitting her PhD, Emily worked as an adjunct lecturer for St John’s Theological College (in Tai Rawhiti) and the Pacific Theological College (in Suva, Fiji). Emily began working at Trinity College in November 2015.

Emily’s research focuses on the relationship between the Bible and contemporary social imaginaries, asking about the ways in which biblical texts interact with communities in the present. She is particularly interested in ecological representations within the Bible and what it means to read Scripture in the context of climate change. Emily is currently working on an ecological commentary of the Book of Jeremiah for the Earth Bible Commentary series (Bloomsbury). She has also written chapters on the Bible and ecological thinking in The Oxford Handbook on Bible and Ecology (Oxford University Press, forthcoming), The Bible and Art: Perspectives from Oceania (Bloomsbury, 2017), The Nature of Things: Rediscovering the Spiritual in God’s Creation (Wipf and Stock, 2016), and Sexuality, Ideology and the Bible: Antipodean Engagements (Sheffield Phoenix, 2015).

Emily is also very interested in biblical depictions of gender and violence. Her most recent publication is a multi-volume work, which she co-edited with Caroline Blyth and Katie Edwards entitled Rape Culture, Gender Violence, and Religion (Palgrave, 2018).