Scholar-Activist Encounter: Yii-Jan Lin and Gale Yee

May 18, 2023, 7:30pm Eastern Time

How do activism and scholarship contribute to our understanding of Scripture in the world today?

In honor of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, our May Scholar-Activist Encounter will feature Dr. Yii-Jan Lin in dialogue with Dr. Gale Yee. They will discuss Dr. Lin’s recent effort to innovate a way of engaging with biblical texts that responds to the needs of anti-racism movements today. Her “writing” of Hebrews 11:1–12:2 draws from her research into the themes of lineage, ancestors, migration, faith, and rest in a promised land which are embedded into the original text, and weaves them together with contemporary historical data. The result is a creative poiesis that exposes and speaks into the long history and current wave of anti-Asian hate, erasure, and violence. Dr. Lin and Dr. Yee will explore the motives for and implications of this project for faith and activist communities.

Optional Advanced Reading: “Our Cloud of Witnesses: A Writing of Hebrews 11:1–12:2 in Memory of the Asian and Asian American Women Killed 16 March 2021” is available for open access download through the end of May at scholarlypublishingcollective.org.

To register for this session, click here: Register for this event

Dr. Yii-Jan Lin is Associate Professor of New Testament at Yale Divinity School. She specializes in textual criticism, the Revelation of John, critical race theory, gender and sexuality, and immigration. Her books include The Erotic Life of Manuscripts (Oxford 2016) and Immigration and Apocalypse: The Revelation of John in the History of American Immigration (forthcoming, Yale University Press). She serves on the Steering Committee for the Ethnic Chinese Biblical Colloquium, and is a member of Pacific, Asian, and North American Asian Women in Theology and Ministry. Click here to read full bio

Dr. Gale Yee is a Hebrew Bible Scholar who has opened pathways for the interpretation of the Bible from feminist, postcolonial and Asian American perspectives. In 2019, she served as the first Asian American and first woman of color president of the Society of Biblical Literature. She currently lives at Pilgrim Place, a retirement community in Claremont, CA, known for its social activism. Her publications include Towards and Asian American Biblical Hermeneutics: An Intersectional Anthology (2021), Poor Banished Children of Eve: Woman as Evil in the Hebrew Bible (2003), and others. In 2020 she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity from Virginia Theological Seminary. Dr. Yee currently serves on the Board of CLBSJ. Click here to read full bio

The Center and Library for the Bible and Social Justice invites you to join us for an interactive dialogue exploring the interfaces between scholarship and activism. How do these ways of being contribute to our understanding of Scripture in the world today? Let’s come together to learn from each other. Most events take place on the third Thursday of the month at 4:30pm Pacific Time / 7:30pm Eastern Time. We do not meet every month, and occasionally meet on a different night.

See the full schedule of the Scholar-Activist Encounter series. For questions, email info@clbsj.org.