Explore Multimedia
organized from newest to oldest
Daybreak Earthquake Jailbreak at Hell’s Gate
Pleasant Hope, I was looking forward to being with you in person last year. I am grateful that we and technology found a way for me to be with you on this most holy day though I still hope for an in person visit. Know that I am praying with and for you during the…
Mary of God
Let us pray:
In the name of the One who waded in the waters of Miryam’s womb, walked the way of suffering as one of the woman-born, and woke from the grasp of death in the deep darkness of the morning. Amen.
Building on Sheerah’s Legacy
My “Smith Talk” at The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries Co-Creating with God Virtual Leadership Conference, 14 July 2020.
Biblical Language for a God Who Transcends Gender
TheoEd from First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta, 02.20.2020 A distinguished womanist biblical interpreter, Dr. Wil Gafney reveals the Bible’s use of masculine and feminine imagery for God and how it invites us to look beyond traditional gender categories.
Wil Gafney Interview with Dr. Dwight Moody
The Meetinghouse, 01.24.2020 Dr. Dwight Moody is in the Meetinghouse with a wonderful interview with Dr. WIl Gafney. The Rev. Wil Gafney, Ph.D. is Professor of Hebrew Bible at Brite Divinity School in Fort Worth, Texas. She is the author of Womanist Midrash: A Reintroduction to Women of the Torah and of the Throne, a...
Holy Blackness: The Matrix of Creation
“Jesus showed us by how he lived and died and lived again on the other side of death that nothing is too big, too much, too hard for God, that human dignity and flourishing are God’s dream for us no matter under what oppressive systems we find ourselves. The Jesus who allied himself with the poor and disenfranchised by becoming poor and disenfranchised will not abandon us to a world that does not love us, fears us and seeks to harm us. Rather Jesus stands with us as we remake the world that is our heritage, our sacred trust, as we rediscover its poetry and the poetry inside of each of us.”
Sermon by Wil Gafney at All Saints Church, Pasadena, on Sunday, December 1, 2019.
What Does the Bible Say About Sexuality?
National Courageous Conversations Part VI: Sexuality with Dr. Wil Gafney, Dr. Cleotha Robertson, Dr. Rodney Sadler and Quonekuia Day.
Courageous Conversations is Jude 3 Project’s national gathering that pairs African American voices trained at conservative evangelical seminaries or divinity schools with African American voices trained at mainline seminaries or divinity schools to discuss controversial topics.
Wil Gafney talks about The Bible with Sarah Posner
Sarah Posner (Religion Dispatches, God's Profits) and Wil Gafney (WilGafney.com), from bloggingheads.tv | April 5, 2018 On The Posner Show, Sarah and Wil discuss the hit History Channel miniseries The Bible. Wil thinks the producers have done a good job with some elements, but critiques the series' erasure of women. She focuses in particular on Hagar, a...
Strategies of Resistance: A Lesson From Daniel
Video from Brite Divinity School, 03.21.2018 Rev. Dr. Wil Gafney, Associate Professor of Hebrew Bible, delivered her sermon, "Strategies of Resistance: A Lesson From Daniel" on Wednesday, March 21, 2018, at Brite Divinity School's Episcopal Eucharist Service.
Lectures on Womanist Midrash: Schooler Institute on Preaching
Methodist Theological School in Ohio, Schooler Institute on Preaching, 2/5 & 2/6/2018
WOMANIST MIDRASH: A Reintroduction to the women of the Torah and the Throne podcast
WOMANIST MIDRASH: A Reintroduction to the women of the Torah and the Throne (with guest Hebrew Bible Scholar Rev. Wil Gafney) from Signposts (Formerly Lessons From Dead Guys), 11.22.2017 We have finally arrived at the season finale of our (Not So) Ordinary Time series. This week I am joined by the Rev. Wil Gafney, Hebrew...
LRR: Wil Gafney, Womanist Midrash
Liam Miller: Want the Podcast Version, find it at "Love Rinse Repeat" wherever you get your podcasts (or here). I sat down with Wil Gafney to talk about her new book Womanist Midrash: A Reintroduction to the Women of the Torah and the Throne. We discuss what drew her to the Hebrew Bible, play some...
Sunshine Cathedral Sermon 3rd Sunday in Lent
Sunshine Cathedral, Fort Lauderdale, FL, March 19, 2017
Gender, Poverty and the Bible
Sexual Politics and the Surveillance of Black Bodies: Implications for Gender & Poverty, a downhill at Friendship West Baptist Church sponsored by Brite Divinity School and Columbia University.
Love God Herself
2016_10_20 Wil Gafney from Candler School of Theology on Vimeo. Yes, I am black! and radiant– O city women watching me– As black as Kedar’s goathair tents Or Solomon’s fine tapestries. Will you disrobe me with your stares? The eyes of many morning suns Have pierced my skin, and now I shine Black as the…
“Love God Herself” – Service of Word and Table Sermon
Video from Candler School of Theology, 10.18.2016 The Rev. Dr. Wil Gafney, Associate Professor of the Hebrew Bible at Brite Divinity School, delivers a sermon titled "Love God Herself" on October 18, 2016 in William R. Cannon Chapel. Sponsored by the Black Church Studies program of Candler School of Theology.
Who Are You Calling A Whore?
Video from Teresa Fry-Brown Women's Preaching Institute, 05.23.2016 The Rev. Wil Gafney, Ph.D. is Associate Professor of Hebrew Bible at Brite Divinity School in Fort Worth, Texas. She is the author of Daughters of Miriam: Women Prophets in Ancient Israel and co-editor of The Peoples’ Bible and The Peoples’ Companion to the Bible. She is...
Who Says These Are God’s Words
Video from Diocese of Fort Worth, 04.16.2015 Poesis: A Womanist Hermeneutic of Biblical Translation - Who Says These Are God's Words The Rev. Dr. Wil Gafney's Inaugural Address, Brite Divinity School, April 14, 2015
The Color Purple: A Lenten Sermon
As we begin our Lenten pilgrimage, my theme is the borrowed title of Alice Walker’s novel, The Color Purple. Because I do believe that “it pisses God off if you pass by the color purple and don’t even notice,” I chose a text that I know no one ever preaches for Lent, if at…
A Sermon on Jonah: Turn That Motha Out!
Sunshine Cathedral, Fort Lauderdale, FL, January 25, 2015
Turning Tables Teach-In Christian Responses to Racialized Violence
Updated! J. K. Gayle’s response to my address interweaving my (much) earlier work on translation theory as it pertains to the scriptures from a black feminist perspective. Live recording from 22 Sept 2014 including my talk: Turning Tables and Snatching Wigs: A Biblical Response to Ferguson and Forney
The Racist Soil of Ferguson MO
(Photo: Reuters) It’s in the soil. It’s in the air. It’s in the water. It’s as American as apple pie. Racism perfuses the soil and soul of Ferguson MO as it does everywhere in these (dis)United States and the Western world. click to tweet It is our legacy and the stuff shaping the building blocks of…
‘Hood Theology
You shall be called the repairer of brokenness, the restorer of neighborhood streets. Let us pray: Holy One of Old, open our eyes that we may see. Amen. (sermon audio here) Free at last! Free last! Thank God almighty we’re free at last! Our people are free. We have the right to vote. One of us…
Torah In Our Midst (Again): A New Covenant
“Rev. Dr. Wil Gafney, Associate Professor of Hebrew and Jewish and Christian Scripture and, Chair of the Biblical Area at The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia: You’re fired.” Let us pray. (Click here for sermon audio.) Blessed are you, Holy One our God, Sovereign of the universe, who has chosen faithful prophets to speak words of…
Preaching A Feminist Faith From Priscilla’s Epistle
Download the audio mp3 A great cloud of witnesses surrounds us… Let us pray: Holy One of Old, open our eyes that we may see. Amen. If your preacher preached about faith last week, she or he might have ended with, “To be continued…” The more than forty verses in Hebrews 11 and the beginning…
Believe God: Listen to the Voices in Your Heart & Head
Download the audio mp3 Genesis 15:6, Abraham trusted in God… Hebrews 11:1, Faith is the essence of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen… 3 By faith we understand… Let us pray: Holy One of Old, open our eyes that we may see. Amen. I believe I can fly I believe I can…
Hosea’s Mothering God: Back to Egypt
Listen to the recording (mp3 file) Hosea 11:3 I, I taught Ephraim to walk, I took them up in my arms; yet they did not know that I healed them. 4 I pulled them along with humane restraint, with ties of love. And I was to them like those who lift babies to their cheeks,…
Tough Texts: Gender and Sexuality
Tough Text lecture series, The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia, May 14, 2011 (Prof. Gafney's portion starts at 31 minutes) Session of the spring 2008 dialogue series for Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders, focusing on how the three Abrahamic traditions contemplate Scripture in terms of Identity and the Other, Gender and Sexuality, and War and...
Audio Recordings
The Politics Of Race And Feminism
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
We continue with our series Ask Me About My Feminist Agenda and are delighted to have The Rev. Wil Gafney back on the podcast. Her unique approach to The Bible in regards to Race, Gender, Ethnicity and Culture have been a blessing in my own “faith journey.” We discuss her ideas on Feminism, Race and Politics as well as her book Womanist Midrash: A Reintroduction to the Women of the Torah and the Throne.
Not for Ordinary Time Series
Wil Gafney: Womanist Midrash
Whitewashing the Bible
The AxPx Podcast Episode #20
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
The History Channel‘s presentation of the miniseries “event” The Bible has sparked reactions of all kinds. From Mega-Church Evangelicals like Rick Warren and Joel Osteen enthusiasm about the “power” of the show, to biblical scholars such as Dr. Joel M. Hoffman voicing their distain for the show. After the first episode aired, we read many opinions on both sides. The one thing that didn’t seem to be discussed in depth was the obvious “Whitewashing” of all biblical characters. From the underwear model “perfection” of Adam and Eve, to the Scottish brogue of Noah and the Brad Pitt look-a-like chosen to play Jesus; something didn’t gel. Thankfully, The Rev. Wil Gafney, Ph.D. wouldn’t let her disappointment stay quiet. Her article Black Samson & White Women on the History Channel turned many heads with her criticism of The History Channel’s (along with Producers Mark Burnett and Roma Downey) casting choices. This week, we are honored to be speaking with Dr. Gafney about her thoughts and opinions. Visit the AxPx website.
Sermon Audio
Something Old – June 8, 2014 – listen online:
Mardi Gras on the Mountaintop – listen online:
Mardi Gras on the Mountaintop download the MP3 (read the sermon here)
Neither Jew/Gentile, Slave/Free, Male/Female: Did Paul Mean That? – listen online:
Neither Jew/Gentile, Slave/Free, Male/Female: Did Paul Mean That? download the MP3 (read the sermon here)
Army of Women Preachers – listen online:
Army of Women Preachers download the MP3 (read the blog entry)
Radio Appearances
Don Miller Show, WEUS-AM Orlando – February 3, 2012
Dion Evans Show – February 7, 2012