معرفی
Erin M. Runions is Professor and Nancy M. Lyon Professor of Biblical History and Literature in the Department of Religious Studies at Pomona College, where she has been a faculty member since 2005. Her academic work sits at the intersection of biblical scholarship, political theology, cultural studies, and critical theory.
Her research focuses on the Hebrew Bible and its reception history, particularly how biblical interpretations shape contemporary ideologies around sexuality, race, biopolitics, governance, war, torture, and U.S. imperialism. She critically examines how scriptural narratives are mobilized in political discourse and cultural production, including film, law, and religious movements.
Runions’s publications include The Babylon Complex: Theopolitical Fantasies of War, Sex, and Sovereignty (2014), How Hysterical: Identification and Resistance in the Bible and Film (2003), and Changing Subjects: Gender, Nation, Future in Micah (2001). Her recent articles analyze topics such as carceral affect, biblical biopolitics, and the theological implications of economic sacrifice during the pandemic. Her scholarship frequently draws on feminist, queer, poststructuralist, and psychoanalytic theories to interrogate power, identity, and subjectivity.
Her most recent publications reveal a sustained engagement with the intersections of religion, affect, and political economy, particularly in carceral systems and pandemic responses. She explores how biblical language is used to justify or critique systems of control, often linking theological concepts to broader structures of capitalism and state violence.
Her notable awards and honors include:
- Lilly Endowment, Wabash Center Grant (2008–2009)
- Lilly Endowment Summer Research Stipend (2007)
- Fonds pour la formation de chercheurs et l'aide à la recherche, Québec (Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2000–2002)
She is actively involved in social justice, including facilitating a writing workshop in a women’s prison and advocating for environmental justice in Pomona. She has taught courses such as Queer Theory and the Bible, Gender and Religion, and The Bible Goes to Hollywood. She received her Ph.D. from McGill University and her B.A. from the University of British Columbia.
