God's Wife with Francesca Stavrakopoulou

Francesca Stavrakopoulou (0:01)

I think that's kind of like one of the common misconceptions is that goddesses were all about fertility. They weren't, they were about warfare as much as they were about nurturing.

Daniel Beecher (0:14)

Well, Dan, we are very fortunate today to have a renowned guest on the show.

Someone with whom you, Dan, are pretty familiar. Why don't you introduce our guest and tell our friends listening and viewing who she is and what she's all about.

Daniel McClellan (0:32)

Of course, so today I'm very happy to have my former dissertation supervisor, Francesca Stavrakopoulou, Professor of Hebrew Bible and Ancient Religion at Exeter University, former head of the Department of Theology and Religion, which is still the name on my doctoral dissertation. Welcome to the show, Francesca, or Professor Stavrakopoulou, pardon me.

How has your day been? I hear it's a little hectic over there right now in the academic world.

Francesca Stavrakopoulou (1:07)

It's really nice to be talking to friendly people. It's been, things are kind of chaotic in the academic world, and we've been having various strikes and whatnot. So yeah, but it's very nice to talk to you today.

Daniel Beecher (1:18)

Yeah, wonderful to have you.

Daniel McClellan (1:21)

I know that one of your priorities is the welfare, the well-being of your students.

And I think I've met one or two of your students in the past, as well as some colleagues of yours there in Exeter. I hope everybody is hopeful about the outcome of the discussions there, but it sounds like there's a lot of work left to do.

Francesca Stavrakopoulou (1:43)

Yeah, I absolutely think so. I think, one of the things about academia, particularly in the UK, is that a lot of government funding has gone towards what we call STEM subjects, so science and technology and engineering. And it makes things harder for those of us in the humanities, particularly those of us who focus on ancient cultures, to kind of justify our existence sometimes. But as we know, things like the Bible remain hugely relevant culturally. I mean, whether we believe it or not, the Bible is a cultural icon and it remains this incredibly important collection of texts to which various people refer. And they also use these texts to beat other people over the head with.

So yeah, it's kind of hard sometimes when you're trying to explain to your paymasters just quite how important this work can be.

Daniel McClellan (2:40)

Yeah, we have similar concerns here with the corporatization of higher education. And ironically, the Bible is frequently embedded in the very ideological foundations of those movements towards that corporatization, which seeks to try to invalidate some of the research that you and I and others are doing.

Daniel Beecher (2:59)

Yeah, that's an interesting point, Francesca. You briefly mentioned that, you know, you said the Bible is important, whether you're a believer or not.

You're not a believer, is that right?

Francesca Stavrakopoulou (3:10)

Yeah, yeah, I never have been, and, you know, I never will be.

Daniel Beecher (3:19)

Does it, do you find a pushback in the world of biblical scholarship because of your atheism?

Francesca Stavrakopoulou (3:26)

That's a really interesting question, because, I mean, I would say that most scholars in my field are religious in some way or another. You know, we have a lot of Jewish colleagues, a lot of Christian colleagues, and every kind of flavor they're in, people that are studying these ancient texts and cultures and archaeological sites. But more of than not, people tend not to, well, I say that, there's no reason why somebody who has a religious commitment or investment in these texts can't produce good scholarship. They absolutely can and they absolutely do.

On the other hand, sometimes I think some people have found me unsettling or are a bit uncomfortable with me because I am quite outspoken about my atheism, but primarily because I'm often on a public stage or I've found myself on this public platform and people always assume, oh, you studied the Bible, you must be religious. And when they realize that I'm not, they just can't understand it. So people think, oh, were you religious and you lost your faith through the academic study of the Bible, which is not the case at all. I never have been religious. I was just really interested in these texts.

Or other people kind of feel that somehow the Bible doesn't belong to me. How dare I kind of ask these questions of these texts or interrogate these particular traditions? You know, what right have I got? But we all have a right to these texts. You know, as I said, that the Bible is a cultural icon, whether we like it or not, and it shapes and continues to shape so many of our cultural preferences and assumptions and our sort of ticks and twitches about the world.