Phyllis Trible

Born in Richmond, Virginia, Trible received her bachelor's degree at Meredith College in Raleigh, NC in 1954, and her doctoral degree from Union Theological Seminary/Columbia University in 1963. She wrote her doctoral dissertation at Union under James Muilenburg, who had generated a method of studying the Hebrew Bible based on form criticism that became known as rhetorical criticism, and whose approach Trible developed and applied throughout career, adding her own pioneering Christian feminist perspective to biblical scholarship.{{cite book|last1=Tull|first1=Patricia K.|editor1-last=Haynes|editor1-first=Stephen R.|editor2-last=McKenzie|editor2-first=Steven L.|title=To each its own meaning : an introduction to biblical criticisms and their applications|date=1999|publisher=Westminster John Knox Press|location=Louisville, Ky.|isbn=978-0664257842|edition=Rev. and expanded.|chapter=Chapter 8: Rhetorical Criticism and Intertextuality}}{{rp|158–159}}{{cite web|title=Finding Aid for Phyllis Trible Papers, 1954-2015|url=http://library.columbia.edu/content/dam/libraryweb/locations/burke/fa/awts/ldpd_5635427.pdf|publisher=Archives of Women in Theological Scholarship The Burke Library Columbia University Libraries Union Theological Seminary, New York|accessdate=4 April 2018|date=2016}}{{cite journal|last1=Vater|first1=Ann M.|title=Review of God and the Rhetoric of Sexuality|journal=Journal of Biblical Literature|date=1980|volume=99|issue=1|pages=131–133|doi=10.2307/3265712|jstor=3265712|s2cid=170804396}}

Trible taught at Wake Forest University (1963–1971) and Andover Newton Theological School (1971–1979) before returning to Union Seminary, where she was appointed the Baldwin Professor of Sacred Literature in 1980.{{cite web|url=http://library.columbia.edu/locations/burke/archives/awts/exhibit/trible.html|title=Archives of Women in Theological Scholarship: Phyllis Trible|publisher=Burke Library at Union Theological Seminary|accessdate=4 April 2018}}{{Cite web |title=Phyllis Trible |url=https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/author/trible-phyllis |access-date=2023-02-07 |website=Jewish Women's Archive |language=en}} She left Union in 1998 to become Associate Dean and Professor of Biblical Studies of the then-new Wake Forest University School of Divinity in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.{{cite web|title=History|url=http://divinity.wfu.edu/about/history/|publisher=Wake Forest University School of Diviinity|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120110184136/http://divinity.wfu.edu/about/history/|archivedate=10 January 2012}} She served in those roles until 2001, when she was appointed University Professor at Wake Forest, and served in that role until she retired in 2012.

Trible served as president of the Society of Biblical Literature in 1994. Athalya Brenner named her one of the "prominent matriarchs of contemporary feminist bible criticism," and claimed that Trible's 1973 article "Depatriarchalizing in Biblical Interpretation" ought to "be considered as the honoured mother of feminist Song of Songs scholarship."{{cite journal|last=Brenner|first=Athalya|author-link=Athalya Brenner|title=Quo Vadis Domina? Reflections on What We Have Become and Want to Be|journal=Lectio Difficilor|url=http://www.lectio.unibe.ch/13_1/brenner_athalya_quo_vadis_domina.html|accessdate=4 August 2013}} According to John J. Collins, "Phyllis Trible, more than any other scholar, put feminist criticism on the agenda of biblical scholarship in the 1970s."{{cite book|last1=Collins|first1=John J.|author-link=John J. Collins|title=The Bible After Babel: Historical Criticism in a Postmodern Age|date=2005|publisher=Eerdmans|page=78|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yqClWOhqso0C&pg=PA78|accessdate=31 October 2015|isbn=9780802828927}}

In 1998, Trible donated her papers to The Burke Library's Archives of Women in Theological Scholarship at Columbia University; her papers formed the foundation of the collection. In recent years, Trible has served as a Visiting Professor of Old Testament at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. She taught a class in the fall of 2018 called "Entrances to Exodus."

Trible’s work is based on rhetorical criticism, examining the interpretation of biblical texts.{{Cite book|title=Dictionary of major biblical interpreters|date=2007|publisher=IVP Academic|others=McKim, Donald K.|isbn=978-0-8308-2927-9|edition=[2nd ed., new and expanded ed.]|location=Downers Grove, Ill.|oclc=138340706}} She is known for her analysis of biblical narratives, particularly with regard to gender. According to P.K. Tull, there are two major themes that are central to all of her work: her respect for biblical text, and her commitment to equality for women.{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1989/03/26/genesis-from-eves-point-of-view/dc371184-1f4c-4142-ac2d-d5efee72a0da/|title=Genesis From Eve's Point of View|last=Milne|first=Pamela|date=26 March 1989|newspaper=The Washington Post|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200621051701/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1989/03/26/genesis-from-eves-point-of-view/dc371184-1f4c-4142-ac2d-d5efee72a0da/|archive-date=21 June 2020|access-date=20 November 2019}}

Phyllis Trible’s interpretation of the creation of Adam and Eve is one of her most notable works. A major theme within “Depatriarchalizing in Biblical Interpretation” is Trible’s argument that the Bible has existed in a sexist context for centuries, which has distorted interpretations of the text.{{Cite journal|last=Roded|date=2015|title=Jewish and Islamic Religious Feminist Exegesis of the Sacred Books: Adam, Woman and Gender|journal=Nashim: A Journal of Jewish Women's Studies & Gender Issues|issue=29|pages=56–80|doi=10.2979/nashim.29.56|jstor=10.2979/nashim.29.56|s2cid=155932131}} Trible writes that the Bible, when read against the contemporary patriarchal context, can be liberating for women. Another major takeaway from Trible’s most notable work is her agreement with some ancient Jewish Talmudists that—when analyzed using rhetorical criticism—language in the Bible suggests that Adam is androgynous until the female Eve is created. This argument has also been made by Riffat Hassan, a Pakistani-American theology professor, who also noted in her own writing that the language used to describe Adam within the biblical story is non-gendered. This understanding was a part of traditional Jewish Biblical exegesis going back to 300-500 C.E., and including Judaism's leading historical Biblical exegete, Rashi (1040-1105).

John J. Collins said in a response to Trible’s work that interpreting a text without the cultural context that it lives in may not even be possible.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yqClWOhqso0C&q=trible&pg=PA78|title=The Bible After Babel: Historical Criticism in a Postmodern Age|last=Collins|first=John J.|date=2005-11-15|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing|isbn=9780802828927|language=en}}

Ann M. Vater said that "central figures always bear some cultural heritage."{{Cite journal|last=Vater|first=Ann M.|date=1980|title=Review of God and the Rhetoric of Sexuality|journal=Journal of Biblical Literature|volume=99|issue=1|pages=131–133|doi=10.2307/3265712|issn=0021-9231|jstor=3265712|s2cid=170804396}}

Michael Carden, looking at who is left out in Trible’s advocacy for traditionally oppressed peoples in Christianity,{{Cite journal|last=Carden|first=Michael|date=1999-03-01|title=Homophobia and Rape in Sodom and Gibeah: A Response to Ken Stone|journal=Journal for the Study of the Old Testament|volume=24|issue=82|pages=83–96|language=en|doi=10.1177/030908929902408205|s2cid=142276408}} said that in Texts of Terror, Trible fails to explain the treatment of homosexuals in Genesis 19.

Dianne Bergant said that Trible's readings come from a contemporary point of view, and that the idea of an androgynous Adam seeks to solve gender parity, and does not actually look at what is written in the text.{{Cite book|title=Genesis: In the Beginning|last=Bergant|first=Dianne|publisher=Liturgical Press|year=2013|isbn=978-0-8146-8250-0|location=Collegeville, Minnesota|pages=8–9}}

;Selected articles

• {{cite journal|last1=Trible|first1=Phyllis|title=Depatriarchalizing in Biblical Interpretation|journal=Journal of the American Academy of Religion|date=1973|volume=41|issue=1|pages=30–48|doi=10.1093/jaarel/XLI.1.30|jstor=1461386}}
• {{cite journal|last1=Trible|first1=Phyllis|title=Wisdom Builds a Poem: The Architecture of Proverbs 1:20-33|journal=Journal of Biblical Literature|date=1975|volume=94|issue=4|pages=509–518|doi=10.2307/3265433|jstor=3265433}}
• {{cite journal|last1=Trible|first1=Phyllis|title=Two Women in a Man's World: A Reading of the Book of Ruth|journal=Soundings: An Interdisciplinary Journal|date=1976|volume=59|issue=3|pages=251–279|jstor=41177998}}
• {{cite book|editor1-last=O'Connor|editor1-first=Michael Patrick|editor2-last=Freedman|editor2-first=David Noel|title=Backgrounds for the Bible|date=1987|publisher=Eisenbrauns|location=Winona Lake, Ind.|isbn=978-0931464300|oclc=869179345|last1=Trible|first1=Phyllis|chapter=A Daughter's Death: Literary Criticism, Feminism, and the Bible|pages=[https://archive.org/details/backgroundsforbi00unse/page/1 1–14]|url=https://archive.org/details/backgroundsforbi00unse/page/1}}
• {{cite journal|last1=Trible|first1=Phyllis|title=The Bible in Bloom|journal=The Iowa Review|date=1991|volume=21|issue=3|pages=19–32|jstor=20153165|doi=10.17077/0021-065X.4046|doi-access=free}}
• {{cite journal|last1=Trible|first1=Phyllis|title=Exegesis for Storytellers and Other Strangers|journal=Journal of Biblical Literature|date=1995|volume=114|issue=1|pages=3–19|doi=10.2307/3266587|jstor=3266587|s2cid=165869391}}

;Books

• {{cite book|last1=Trible|first1=Phyllis|title=God and the rhetoric of sexuality|url=https://archive.org/details/godrhetoricofsex0000trib|url-access=registration|date=1978|publisher=Fortress Press|location=Philadelphia|isbn=0800604644|edition=1st}}
• {{cite book|last1=Trible|first1=Phyllis|title=Texts of terror : literary-feminist readings of Biblical narratives|url=https://archive.org/details/textsofterrorlit0000trib|url-access=registration|date=1984|publisher=Fortress Press|location=Philadelphia|isbn=978-0800615376|edition=2. pr}}
• {{cite book|last1=Phyllis.|first1=Trible|title=Rhetorical criticism : context, method, and the book of Jonah|date=1994|publisher=Fortress Press|isbn=9780800627980}}
• {{cite book|title=Hagar, Sarah, and Their Children: Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Perspectives|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4629ngEACAAJ|publisher=Presbyterian Publishing Corporation|location=Philadelphia|isbn=9780664229825|edition=|year=2006|editor-first=Phyllis|editor-last=Trible|editor-first2=Russell|editor-last2=Letty M.}}

{{reflist}}

• Video interview by Susanne Scholz, recorded ca 2009, hosted at Scholz' website gathering oral history of feminist biblical scholars, [http://susanne-scholz.com/feminist-theologians-live/ Feminist Theologians Live].

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{{s-bef|before=Victor P. Furnish}}

{{s-ttl|title=President of the Society of Biblical Literature|years=1994}}

{{s-aft|after=Leander E. Keck}}

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Category:1932 births

Category:Living people

Category:Union Theological Seminary alumni

Category:Union Theological Seminary faculty

Category:Wake Forest University faculty

Category:Andover Newton Theological School faculty

Category:Old Testament scholars

Category:Feminist studies scholars

Category:Presidents of the Society of Biblical Literature

Category:Meredith College alumni

Category:Female biblical scholars

Category:Christian feminist biblical scholars

Category:People from Richmond, Virginia