Harvard University ProfessorElisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza will present the Preston Lecture in Biblical Studies at Meredith College on Tuesday, Feb. 13 at 4 p.m. in Jones Chapel.

The title of Schüssler Fiorenza’s lecture will be “The Power of the Word: Scripture and the Rhetoric of Empire.”

Schüssler Fiorenza is an internationally recognized scholar in the area of Biblical interpretation and feminist theology. She is the Krister Stendahl Professor of Divinity at Harvard University. Her teaching and research focus on questions of Biblical and theological epistemology, rhetoric and the politics of interpretation, as well as on issues of theological education, radical equality and democracy.

Schüssler Fiorenza is a co-founder and editor of the “Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion” and a past co-editor of “Concilium,” an international journal of theology.

She was elected the first woman president of the Society of Biblical Literature and has served on the editorial boards of major Biblical journals and societies. In 2001, she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her published work includes, among many other books, “In Memory of Her,” which has been translated into 12 languages; “Jesus and the Politics of Interpretation;” and “Wisdom Ways: Introducing Feminist Biblical Interpretation.”

The Mary Frances Preston Lecture in Biblical Studies is made possible by funding initiated by Mr. and Mrs. Charles D. Barham, Jr. Preston was the author of the textbook “Christian Leadership,” and director of religious education at the First Baptist Church of Raleigh for 19 years. This year’s lecture was also presented with the support of the Staley Lecture Fund.

The lecture is free and open to the public. For more information, contact the Meredith College Department of Religion and Philosophy at (919) 760-2361.