Pamela D. H. Cochran

Fellow

Lecturer in Religious Studies

Pamela D. H. Cochran is a Lecturer in American Religious History in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia, and Faculty Fellow of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture. She has taught classes in theology and culture at Bethel Seminary in St. Paul, MN, and she served as Associate Director of the Center on Religion and Democracy from 2000 to 2002.

Her research interests are in the areas of religion and culture and the history of women in religion. She is the author of Evangelical Feminism: A History (New York University Press, 2005), which addresses the changing nature of religious authority in contemporary American religion and culture. She has a chapter on “Feminism, Sexuality, and Authority” in Christian Theologies of Scripture and the Politics of Interpretation (New York University Press, 2006). Her articles have appeared in The Hedgehog Review, The Other Journal, Sightings, and INSight, and she has written entries on evangelical women for the Encyclopedia of Religion in America (forthcoming) and on “Feminist Christian Thought” in the Encyclopedia of Love in World Religions (ABC-CLIO 2007). She is currently at work on a manuscript, tentatively titled Saving Women; Saving America: Understanding 20th Century Anti-Feminism, about anti-feminism organizations in contemporary America. By studying the theology alongside the politics of these women, Dr. Cochran's book will address the larger question of why women—their bodies and their roles—have been central to the struggles taking place in American politics and culture.