Leslie Virnelson
Adjunct Assistant Professor of Biblical Languages
Email: Leslie.Virnelson@upsem.edu
Location: Richmond
Department: Bible
Our students learn from and develop relationships with our highly regarded faculty, many of whom are globally recognized as leading experts in their field of study.
Email: Leslie.Virnelson@upsem.edu
Location: Richmond
Department: Bible
Princeton Theological Seminary, Ph.D. and M.Div
Dr. Leslie Virnelson received her Ph.D. and M.Div from Princeton Theological Seminary in 2023 and 2017. She has taught students at Princeton University, Union Theological Seminary, Mercer University, and the Stevenson School for Ministry.
Her primary research interests include gender, materiality, and prophecy in the Hebrew Bible. Dr. Virnelson’s current book project Fruit of Her Hands: Women, Work, & Society in the Hebrew Bible explores weavers, midwives, diviners, and sex workers in the Hebrew Bible and in ancient Israel and Judah. It complicates ideas about “women’s work,” the rigidity of gender roles, and shows why it is hard for modern readers to appreciate the skills and knowledge of ancient women. Her next major project will address broad paradigms of skill, work, and craft evident in the Hebrew Bible in comparison with modern ideas about labor and work in the US.
When she is not teaching, Dr. Virnelson enjoys hiking and reading fiction.
