African American Readings of St. Paul

“How have African Americans throughout history utilized the Apostle Paul and his letters in their writings to protest and resist oppression? How has Pauline scripture been a part of the black protest tradition? On May 5-7, please join Dr. Lisa Bowens, Associate Professor of New Testament at Princeton Theological Seminary, and the author of African American Readings of Paul: Reception, Resistance, and Transformation. This retreat will be an opportunity to journey through the centuries by engaging select portions of works by black authors who lived from the 18th to the 20th century. The genres discussed will include sermons, enslaved petitions, and autobiographies of free blacks and the formerly enslaved. Participants will rediscover figures they may know and discover some they do not know, and they will also have a chance to discuss and reflect upon how these writers may offer interpretive ways forward for our own contexts. How can scripture speak to us in liberative ways today? Come for powerful conversations and stimulating teaching.”

Single-occupancy room with meals: $130 per person per night

Double-occupancy room with meals: $95 per person/per night

Please note: Rooms are typically configured with two twin beds. There is a $100 surcharge for a room with a king bed and rooms with king beds are limited.

Dr. Lisa Marie Bowens is an Associate Professor of New Testament at Princeton Theological Seminary.  She holds a BS degree (cum laude) in business education and sociology from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and four masters degrees: one in business education and another in library and information studies, both also from UNC–Greensboro, two theological degrees from Duke University Divinity School, Durham, NC: M.T.S. and Th.M., and a Ph.D. in New Testament-Biblical Studies from Princeton Theological Seminary. She is the first African American woman to receive tenure in Princeton Theological Seminary’s Bible department and she teaches a variety of courses there, including Introduction to New Testament Exegesis, Paul and Apocalyptic Thought, and African American Pauline Hermeneutics. She has written a number of articles and two books, An Apostle in Battle: Paul and Spiritual Warfare in 2 Corinthians 12:1-10 and African American Readings of Paul: Reception, Resistance, and Transformation. She is a member of the Society of Biblical Literature, American Academy of Religion, the Society of Pentecostal Studies, the Society for the Study of Black Religion, Society for New Testament Studies, and is a past Fund for Theological Education fellow. She is also currently a member of the editorial team for the Bulletin for Biblical Research Journal, the Steering Committee for the African American Biblical Hermeneutics Group (SBL), the steering committee of the Pauline Theology Group (SBL) and served as co-chair of the Ethics and Biblical Interpretation Group (2018-2021; SBL). Among her current projects are two commentaries, one on 2 Corinthians and one on 1-2 Thessalonians.