Telephone (706) 542-5356 - Fax (706) 542-6724

echeney@uga.edu

Professor Cheney's primary areas of research are the study of the New Testament and Early Christian literature (especially Matthew and Paul), the social world of early Christianity, sociological and literary studies of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament and intertestamental literature, and the roles of women in the New Testament and early Christian Literature.

At Vanderbilt University she received the Ph.D. in Religion, specializing in New Testament Studies and Early Christian Origins and the M.Div. with a concentration in Theological Ethics. She has also studied at Wake Forest University where she received an M.A. in Religion. Her undergraduate degree in Anthropology and Sociology has continued to influence her approach to research and teaching.

Her current research interests include studies of the dynamics of gender, race, and class in biblical texts; the relation of Scripture to ethics, in particular, the dynamics of evil speaking, persecution, and suffering; and the impact of the authority of the text upon interpretation. She will be presenting her current research at the upcoming November meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature.

Forthcoming in Fall 2005 as a part of the series SBL Resources for Biblical Studies (ed. Susan Ackerman and Ross Wagner; Atlanta: Scholars Press), several of her contributions will appear in Teaching the Bible: Practical Strategies for Classroom Instruction (Ed. Patrick Gray and Mark Roncace). Her contributions include "Genesis 1-11 as Myth," "The Gospels as Aural and Socio-Political Documents," "The Four Gospels: Sensing Similarities and Differences," "Distinguishing Jesus' Resurrection from his Parousia in the Synoptic Gospels," Paul's Religious Experience: Conversion or Call?," "Recreating the Corinthian Community," "Paul's Rhetoric in Philemon").

Additional publications include She Can Read: Feminist Reading Strategies for Biblical Narrative (1996) and "The Mother of the Sons of Zebedee," JSNT 68 (1997): 13-21. She has contributed several entries in Eerdmans's Dictionary of the Bible (2000) and over 350 entries in the forthcoming New Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible. As Assistant Development Editor for Abingdon Press, she edited numerous articles in the preparation of the publication of the Dictionary of Biblical Interpretation (2000). She also worked as the Greek and Hebrew proofreader for the New Interpreter's Bible.

In addition to her faculty appointment as assistant professor in the religion department at UGA, Dr. Cheney taught religion courses in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and participated as an affiliate member of the Women Studies Program.

Presently, Dr. Emily Cheney is pursuing independent scholarship to complete several research projects and is a freelance editor with several presses. She continues to present her research at regional, national, and international meetings and is a member of the steering committee of the Feminist Theological Hermeneutics of the Bible Group for the Annual/National Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature.