In announcing the appointments, Dean R. Kevin LaGree said each of the three will bring unique talents and academic strengths to the theology school. "I am delighted to announce the appointment of three outstanding faculty whose careers are on the rise. All have made important contributions to their fields of expertise; our students will benefit greatly from their demonstrated scholarly research and dedication to teaching."
Eiesland, who recently received her Ph.D. from Emory, is author of The Disabled God: Toward a Liberatory Theology of Disability, which was nominated for the 1995 Louisville Grawemeyer Award in Religion by Abingdon Press. Her areas of specialty include sociology and anthropology of religion, gender and religion, social change, and illness and disability. During 1994-95 she was an Andrew W. Mellon Southern Studies Fellow at Emory and a Dissertation Fellow of the Louisville Institute for the Study of Protestantism and American Culture.
Jackson is the author of the forthcoming book, Love's Priority: A Defense of Charity as the First Virtue (Cambridge University Press), a kaleidoscopic look at Christian love. A member of the Stanford faculty since 1987, he also has taught at Yale Divinity School and Rhodes College. In addition to Christian ethics, Jackson's teaching and research interests include medical and legal ethics, and the philosophy of religion. He holds a joint Ph.D. in philosophy and religious studies from Yale University.
Walls' teaching and research interests include not only the Old Testament and the religion of ancient Israel, but also ancient Near Eastern myth and religions, and comparative mythology. He is the author of The Goddess Anat in Ugaritic Myth (Scholars Press, 1992) and is preparing a book on goddess worship in ancient Israel. In addition to Swarthmore, Walls has taught at the College of Charleston, Colby College, the College of Wooster, Dartmouth College and The Johns Hopkins University. Walls holds a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins.
-- Elaine Justice