Dr. Bernadette Brooten, director of Brandeis University's Feminist Sexual Ethics Project and professor of Christian and Women's Studies, will be the keynote speaker. The theme of her message, "Beyond Slavery: Overcoming its Sexual Legacy," will address the intersection of slavery, religion, women, and sexuality.

"The Joanna Dewey Lecture is an opportunity for us to bring innovative and challenging scholars from across the country to the EDS community," said the Rev. Dr. Sheryl Kujawa-Holbrook, academic dean at EDS. "We are delighted that the first lecturer will be Bernadette Brooten - a person suggested by Joanna for this honor - and someone whose work is so in tune with the mission of the school."

Brooten's lecture will reflect her current work. She is writing a book on early Christian women who were enslaved or who were slave-holding, and editing a volume on slavery's long shadow over the lives of girls and women. She is the author of "Women Leaders in the Ancient Synagogue: Inscriptional Evidence" and "Background Issues and Love Between Women: Early Christian Responses to Female Homoeroticism."  In addition, she has published articles on Paul and the Jewish Law, Jewish epigraphy, papyrological, and literary evidence for Jewish women's power to initiate divorce in antiquity, and on various topics of ancient Jewish and early Christian women's history.

The Joanna Dewey Scholars Lecture is made possible through an endowed fund founded by former students to honor the life and scholarship of Dewey.

The lecture is free but pre-registration is requested. Registration is available here. For more information, email Penny Kohn at pkohn@eds.edu or call 617-682-1525.