Alumna Examines Pauline Epistles, Gender

Judith Gundry ’78, research scholar and associate professor of New Testament at Yale Divinity School, examines the teachings of Saint Paul to determine the significance of gender and the role of the sexes in a talk Thursday, Nov. 20, from 3:30-­5 p.m. in Winter Hall’s Darling Foundation Lecture Hall (Room 210) at Westmont. The Gender Studies Lecture, “Holy in Body and Spirit: The Lordship of Christ and Gender Roles in the Pauline Epistles,” is free and open to the public.

Gundry will probe questions such as whether the biblical creation narratives determine God’s will for Christian men and women, and if marriage and having children is an obligation today.

“What is the obligation of women and men who have been ‘bought for a price’ and are now slaves of Christ to other believers and to the world?” she asks. “The teaching of Paul on women and gender must be evaluated in the light of the answers to these questions.”

Gundry, who graduated with honors from Westmont while double majoring in religious studies and comparative literature, earned a Master of Arts degree from Fuller Theological Seminary and a Doctor of Theology from the University of Tübingen in Germany.

She wrote the book “Paul and Perseverance: Staying in and Falling Away” and co-­authored “A Spacious Heart: Essays on Identity and Belonging.”