Faculty

Sawyer, Deborah

About

Deborah F. Sawyer lectures in theology at the JFRC, where she teaches Gender and Religion, Christianity, and Religious Studies. She received her PhD from the University of Edinburgh, following research at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and a fellowship at Oxford University’s Centre for Postgraduate Jewish Studies, subsequently publishing a textual critical commentary on Midrash Aleph Beth. Appointed to a tenured lectureship in Religious Studies at Lancaster University in the UK, she held posts of Reader, Head of Department, and Dean of Postgraduate Studies in Social Sciences before moving to Italy. Her current research focuses on gender and religion, and her publications include two monographs, Women and Religion in the First Christian Centuries and God, Gender and the Bible. Among most recent publications is her contribution to The Bible and Feminism: Remapping the Field (Oxford University Press, 2017). She finds Rome and the John Felice Rome Center an ideal context for teaching and research.

Degrees

• PhD, Hebrew Literature, University of Edinburgh
• MLitt, Jewish Studies, Newcastle University
• BA, Religious Studies, Newcastle University

Research Interests

• Gender and religion
• Identity theories applied to religious context