KARLA GAIL BOHMBACH
Department of Philosophy, Religion, and Classical Studies
Susquehanna University
514 University Avenue
Selinsgrove, PA 17870
(570) 372-4167
bohmbach@susqu.edu
EDUCATION
Ph.D.
1996
M.A.
B.A.
1991
1983
Duke University, Religion
Dissertation: “’With Her Hands on the Threshold’: Daughters and Space
in the Hebrew Bible.” Advisor: Carol L. Meyers
Duke University, Religion
St. Olaf College, History, magna cum laude
ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT
Department of Philosophy, Religion, and Classical Studies, Susquehanna University
Associate Professor, 2001 to present
Assistant Professor, 1994-2001
Women’s Studies Program, Susquehanna University
Coordinator, 2003 to present
Department of Religion, Duke University
Instructor, 1994 (spring)
Department of Religion, Guilford College
Visiting Instructor, 1993 (fall)
Department of English, Duke University
Writing Instructor, 1992 (fall) and 1993 (fall)
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Introduction to Hebrew Bible (Old Testament)
Introduction to New Testament
Applied Biblical Ethics
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Biblical Archaeology
Women in the Biblical Tradition
The Gospels and Jesus
Apocalypticism
Biblical Hebrew
Women and Religion
Jerusalem: City of Three Faiths
Introduction to Women’s Studies
Women and Violence: Causes, Consequences, Responses
Ancient History
First-Year Writing Course
HONORS/GRANTS
Mini Grant for Research Support, Susquehanna University, 2006
Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers, 2005
NEH Challenge Grant (Arthur Vining David Fund), Susquehanna University, 2002
Lutheran Academy of Scholars in Higher Education, Division for Higher Education and
Schools – ELCA, Harvard University, 2000
ELCA College and University Faculty Study Grant, Division for Higher Education and Schools ELCA, 1999
Mini Grant for Innovations in Instructional Methodology, Susquehanna University, 1996
Association of American Colleges Junior Teaching Fellow, Duke/Guilford College Program,
1990-91
Graduate Certificate in Women's Studies, Duke University, 1989
PUBLICATIONS
Essay entries (“Debating Joseph,” “Comparing Portrayals of God,” “Role-Playing Biblical
Narratives,” and “Acts 1-8 and the Early Church”) for Teaching the Bible: Practical
Strategies for Classroom Instruction, edited by Mark Roncace and Patrick Gray. Atlanta:
SBL Publications, 2005. Pgs. 108-9, 240-41, 247-48, 331-32.
“What Sort of Claims Does the Bible Have Today?”, “Rape: A Meditation on 2 Samuel 13,” and
“The Sacrificing of Children: A Meditation on Judges 11,” in Journal of Lutheran Ethics
4/5 (May 2004). On-line journal.
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“Of Fathers and Feminism: How One Lutheran Woman Came to a Vocation,” Intersections:
faith + life + learning 14 (Summer 2002): 31-40.
“A Tale of Two Teachers: How We Adapted the Same Graduate School Education to Two
Different Institutional Realities,” Perspective in Religious Studies 27/4 (Winter 2000):
427-33. [with Sandra L. Gravett]
“Teaching Students by Having Students Teach (Dealing with the ‘Problem’ Sections of a
Course).” Teaching Theology & Religion 3/3 (Oct. 2000): 170-76.
"Conventions/Contraventions: The Meanings of Public and Private for the Judges 19
Concubine." Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 83 (June 1999): 83-98.
"Women's Names and Naming." In Women in Scripture, Carol L. Meyers, editor-in-chief.
Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 2000. Pgs. 33-39.
"Living on the Edge: The Liminality of Daughters in Genesis to 2 Samuel." In A Feminist
Companion to Samuel and Kings, edited by Athalya Brenner. Sheffield: Sheffield
Academic Press, 1994. Pgs. 26-42.
Dictionary entries ("Daughter of Jephthah," “Companions of Jephthah’s Daughter,” “Daughters
[and Sons] Who Prophesy,” "Daughter") for Women in Scripture, Carol L. Meyers, ed.-inchief. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 2000. Pgs. 243-44, 347, 517-19.
Dictionary entries ("Jezebel," "Names and Naming") for the Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible,
D. N. Freedman, ed.-in-chief. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2000. Pgs. 713-14, 944-46.
Review of Ichabod Toward Home: The Journey of God’s Glory by Walter Brueggemann,
Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology 57/1 (Jan. 2003: 100, 102.
Review of History and Ideology: An Introduction to Historiography in the Hebrew Bible by
Yairah Amit, Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology (Jan. 2002): 101.
Review of Warrior, Dancer, Seductress, Queen: Women in Judges and Biblical Israel by
Susan Ackerman, Bible Review 16/6 (Dec. 2000): 45-46, 48.
Review of The Word According to Eve: Women and the Bible in Ancient Times And Our Own
by Cullen Murphy, NWSA Journal 12/2 (Summer, 2000): 193-95.
Review of The Pentateuch: A Liberation-Critical Reading by Alice Laffey, Interpretation: A
Journal of Bible and Theology (Jan. 1999): 82.
Review of In Search of a Calling: The College’s Role in Shaping Identity by Thomas O. Buford,
Intersections: faith + life + learning 4 (Winter, 1998): 29-31.
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Review of Discovering Eve: Ancient Israelite Women in Context by C. Meyers, American
Jewish Times Outlook 54 (Sept. 1989): 21.
Response to "The University in the City of God: Beyond Dialectics and Rhetoric" by Gregory
A. Clark in Intersections: faith + life + learning 4 (Winter, 1998): 20-21.
Journal selections, in Engaging Feminism: Students Speak Up & Speak Out. J. O'Barr and M.
Wyer, eds. Charlottesville and London: University Press of Virginia, 1992. Pgs. 44-45, 6364.
PRESENTATIONS/PAPERS
“What Sort of Claim Does the Bible Have Today?” ELCA Convocation of Teaching
Theologians, Milwaukee, WI, August, 2003
“An Autobiographical Reading of the Silences in and about 2 Samuel 13,” AAR/SBL Annual
Meeting, Toronto, CANADA, November, 2002.
“They’re Just Examples in a Book – Or Are They?: The Relevance of Biblical Women for
Our Time,” MacMurray College, Jacksonville, IL, November, 2001.
“Of Fathers and Feminism: How One Lutheran Woman Came to a Vocation,” 7th Annual
Vocation of a Lutheran College Conference, Valparaiso University, IN, August, 2001.
“Making the Transition from Graduate School to Undergraduate Teaching,”
co-presentation with Sandie L. Gravett for the Graduate Program in Religion, Duke
University, February, 2001.
“A Tale of Two Teachers: How We Adapted the Same Graduate School Education to Two
Different Institutional Realities,” co-presented with Sandie L. Gravett, AAR/SBL Annual
Meeting, Nashville, TN, November, 2000.
"The Exilic and Post-Exilic Old Testament," presentation for the ELCA Upper Susquehanna
Synod Lay Ministry Leaders Program, April 1999.
"Teaching the Latter Prophets," Panel Presentation at the AAR/SBL Mid-Atlantic Regional
Meeting, Arlington, VA, February, 1999.
"A Carnivalesque Reading of Genesis 38 (Or, Judah and Tamar Go to the Carnival)," AAR/SBL
Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL, November, 1998.
"Women and the Bible: Insecure Positionings," presentation for the Susquehanna University
Faculty Colloquium, April, 1998.
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"Tamar as a Revolutionary?: A Carnivalesque Reading of Genesis 38," AAR/SBL Mid-Atlantic
Regional Meeting, New Brunswick, NJ, March, 1998.
"What's So Daughter-Like About Daughter Zion?," AAR/SBL Annual Meeting, New Orleans,
November, 1996.
"Jezebel as a Threefold Other," AAR/SBL Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, November, 1995.
"The Violence of Insecurity: The Liminal State of Daughters in the Narratives of the Hebrew
Bible," AAR/SBL Annual Meeting, San Francisco, November, 1992.
"The Cultural Meanings of Space for Daughters in Biblical Narratives," AAR/SBL Southeast
Regional Meeting, Atlanta, March, 1992.
"On Finding an Academic Space of My Own," Border Crossings: Ideas and Actions in Women’s
World’s, Second Annual Graduate Research Conference in Women's Studies, Duke
University, November, 1991.
UNIVERSITY SERVICE
Coordinator, Women’s Studies Program, 2003-present
Faculty Advisor for Womenspeak, 2003-present
Student Risk Reduction Advisory Group, 2005-present
Susquehanna University Board of Directors, Faculty Representative, 2002-2005
Middle States Taskforce on Learning and Curriculum, Chair, 2002-2003
Curriculum Committee, Chair, 2000-2001
Curriculum Committee, 1997-2001
Susquehanna University Press Editorial Board, 1997-2000
Honors Advisory Committee, 1996-1998
Taskforce on Diversity in the Curriculum, 1996-1998
Advisory Committee on Religious Life, 1995-present
Women's Studies Working Group, 1994-present
Lutheran College Study Group, 1995-2001
Search Committee for the Chaplain, 1996
Ad-Hoc Committee on Faculty Workloads and Rewards, 1998-2000
Regent's College Liaison, 1997-2000
OTHER PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITY
Member of the Editorial Board, Intersections: faith + life + learning, 1996-present (a
publication of the 28 colleges associated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America)
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Member of the Planning Committee, Annual Summer Conferences on the Vocation of a
Lutheran College, 1995-present
Assistant Square Supervisor, Excavations at Sepphoris in the Galilee of Israel, sponsored
by Duke University, June, 1996
PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
Society of Biblical Literature
American Academy of Religion
American Schools of Oriental Research
REFERENCES
Sandie L. Gravett, Department of Philosophy and Religion, Appalachian State University,
Boone, NC 28608 (828) 262-2428
Carol L. Meyers, Department of Religion, Duke University, Box 90964, Durham, NC 27708
(919) 660-3514
Jeffrey Whitman, Chair, Department of Philosophy, Religion, and Classical Studies,
Susquehanna University, 514 University Avenue, Selinsgrove, PA 17870
(570) 372-4168
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