Biographies
Anne Elvey has a Masters in Theology through the Melbourne College of Divinity and a PhD in Women's Studies through Monash University awarded in 2000. Her PhD thesis is entitled Gestations of the Sacred: Ecological Feminist Readings from the Gospel of Luke. Anne is an Honorary Research Associate in the Centre for Women's Studies and Gender Research at Monash University and a facilitator at The Grove: Wholistic Centre for Spirituality Inc., in East Brunswick, Victoria. Her research interests are in the areas of biblical studies, feminist studies, ecotheology and ecocriticism.
Frances Gray lectures in philosophy at the University of New England, in Armidale, New South Wales, Australia. Her specific interests are in philosophy of religion, philosophy of gender, myth/folk tales, and poetics.
Judith McKinlay is a lecturer in biblical studies at Otago, currently exploring the conversations between gender and context in the texts of the Hebrew Bible.
Kathleen McPhillips lectures in gender studies and social analysis at the University of Western Sydney. She has written extensively on issues of religion and feminism as well as being actively involved in the movement for women's religious and spiritual liberation. She is currently editor of Religious Review, and on the executive of the Australian Feminist Theology Foundation.
Pat(ricia) Mullins has held leadership positions, both paid part-time and voluntary, in a wide range of Church movements and organisations devoted to lay leadership, renewal and mission. She is a freelance writer and speaker, committed to increasing the status of women in the Catholic Church. Married for forty-two years with ten adult children, she gained a Bachelor of Theology with Honours in 1992 (on the topic of marriage imagery in the Bible from a woman's perspective) and was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy (Theology) in 1998. An adaptation of her dissertation has been published entitled Becoming married: towards a Theology of Marriage from a Woman's Perspective.
Paula Smith is a Sister of Mercy and a member of the Institute Leadership Team for the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy of Australia. She holds a PhD from James Cook University, Townsville, Australia. Her research has been mainly in the area of womens subjectivity through post-structuralist feminism, especially the theory and writings of Helene Cixous. She comes from the central west of NSW and is an educator who has worked in both secondary and tertiary fields.
Nancy Victorin-Vangerud is Lecturer of Systematic Theology at Murdoch University and the Perth Theological Hall of the Uniting Church. She has recently published a book on a feminist maternal refiguration of the Spirit entitled The Raging Hearth: Spirit in the Household of God (St Louis: Chalice Press, 2000). Avid body-surfers, Nancy and her family spend as much time as possible at the beach.
Val Webb (nee Skerman) completed a graduate degree in Microbiology at the University of Queensland before moving to Rochester, Minnesota, USA when her husband joined the Mayo Clinic staff. In Rochester, Val operated Val Webb Galleries marketing her artwork and other international artists, and raised three children. Returning to Brisbane in 1981, Val established The Wesley Hospital's Communication and Resources department, and was founding Chair of Education and Communication for the Uniting Church of Australia's Queensland Synod. She also began Religious Studies at Queensland University, completing a Ph.D. in Systematic Theology at Luther Seminary, St. Paul, when her family moved back to Rochester. Val is adjunct faculty at the University of Minnesota and Augsburg College, and a visiting lecturer in Australia. Her books include Why We're Equal: Introducing Feminist Theology (St. Louis, MO: Chalice Press, 1999); John's Message: Good News for the new Millennium (Nashville: Abingdon Press 1999); In Defense of Doubt: an Invitation to Adventure (St. Louis, MO: Chalice Press, 1995); Twin Cities Sketchbook (Rochester: Johnson Co., 1977), and Rochester Sketchbook (Rochester: Johnson Co., 1976).