December 20, 2007

Dr. Carol Meyers, Mary Grace Wilson Professor in the Department of Religion at Duke University, will present the ninth address in the annual Paul J. Landa Memorial Lectures. Her presentation on the campus of La Sierra University, “Barely Visible But Very Real: Women’s Religious Culture in Ancient Israel,” will focus on the role of women in the biblical world, particularly in the realm of worship and religious practice. The lecture will take place in the La Sierra University church, corner of Pierce and Sierra Vista, on February 9, 2008, at 3 pm.

“Reading the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) with an eye to women’s religious lives can be discouraging,” Meyers says. “We encounter the patriarchs making sacrifices and engaging in conversation with God; and we see an all-male priesthood functioning in the wilderness tabernacle and in the Jerusalem temple. Where, we might ask, are the women in all of this?” Her response to her own question: “This presentation will consider aspects of women’s religious lives that are not readily apparent in the Bible. Using archaeological evidence and ethnographic data, women’s religious practices can be identified.”

Having completed her undergraduate work at Wellesley College in Biblical History, Literature and Interpretation, and her graduate studies at Brandeis University in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies (M.A. and Ph.D.), Carol Meyers also studied at Hebrew Union College and Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Her archaeological experience includes field excavation, supervisory and administrative positions at many sites in Israel, including Gezer, Arad, Masada and Sepphoris.

In addition to publishing more than 400 articles, reports, and reviews, Meyers has authored, co-authored, or edited fifteen books, including: Doubleday’s Anchor Bible Commentaries on Haggai and Zechariah 1-8 and Zechariah 9-14; a report on the Excavations of the Ancient Synagogue at Gush Halav; a lavishly illustrated account of Sepphoris and its mosaics; and a museum catalogue of an exhibit on Sepphoris in Galilee: Crosscurrents of Culture. Another book, Discovering Eve: Ancient Israelite Women in Context, was published in 1988 by Oxford University Press. In 2005 Fortress Press published her booklet on Households and Holiness: The Religious Culture of Israelite Women.

Meyers has also been a consultant for popular media presentations dealing with the biblical world, including DreamWorks’s “Prince of Egypt,” WNET-TV’s “Civilization and the Jews,” NBC-TV’s “Human Animal” series, the National Geographic Discovery documentary on “Mona Lisa of the Galilee,” a PBS documentary on the “History of Jews and Judaism,” a 4-part NOVA series on “Ancient Israel,” and many segments of the A & E “Mysteries of the Bible” and “Biography” series.

In this year’s Landa Lecture, Meyers intends to consider “the significance of women’s religious culture for the women themselves, their families, and the larger communities in which they lived.”

PR Contact: Larry Becker
Executive Director of University Relations
La Sierra University
Riverside, California
951.785.2460 (voice)