Lisa Belz

Background

I am an Ursuline Sister of Cleveland and a biblical scholar trained by the Church for the Church. I give talks, conferences, and retreats locally, nationally, and internationally, on topics related to Scripture, Christian Spirituality, and Early Christianity. I earned a Ph.D. in Theology (Scripture) from Loyola University Chicago, a Master's in Theological Studies (Scripture) from the University of Notre Dame, and a Master's in Pastoral Ministry (Hispanic Ministry) from Boston College. In addition to my experience as an educator, I served on the Cleveland Latin American Mission Team in El Salvador for a number of years. I bring my experience of the developing world to my work as a scholar, teacher, writer, speaker and retreat director.

Areas of Expertise

1) I am a biblical scholar trained by the Church, for the Church. I read the Scriptures in their original languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek) and in translation (Latin, Syriac). I specialize in the history of biblical interpretation, particularly in regard to women (Gen 1-3, Pauline literature) and Christian anti-Jewish readings of Scripture (e.g., the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of John).

2) I am a member of the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) and the Catholic Biblical Association of America. Since 2017, I have served as a member of the Disputed Paulines program unit of the SBL, serving two three-year terms as chair (2018-2024).

Research Interests

1) My research includes the following:

The Historical Jesus; The Synoptic Gospels; Johannine literature; Second Temple Judaism; the Dead Sea Scrolls; Paul and Pauline Literature; Ephesians; Deutero-Pauline Literature; Hellenistic Judaism; Women in Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity; Women and Religion in Antiquity; Biblical Interpretation; Gnostic Literature; early Christian non-canonical literature; Christian Spirituality; the Christian mystical tradition.

2) I have presented papers at a number of academic meetings. These mostly have to do with the history of biblical interpretation (e.g., "Philo and Eve: The First Woman and the Cause of Human Unhappiness"; “Proper Household Relations in Whose Basileia ? Ephesians’ Subtle Revisions to the Household Code of Colossians”), women in the biblical text or cognate literature (“Who is Mary? Who is Peter? Behind the Conflict Between Peter and Mary Magdalen in the Gnostic Texts”; “Women Members of the Association(s) behind the Dead Sea Scrolls: In Search of a More Credible Paradigm”; “The Place of Women in the Household of Faith: Sorting through the Disputes
between Paul and Paul’s Inheritors”), or the Pauline Epistles (“‘By Grace You Have Been Saved’: The Idiosyncratic Use of ‘Charis’ in Ephesians”; “Proper Household Relations in Whose Basileia ? Ephesians’ Subtle Revisions to the Household Code of Colossians”).

Most recently, I presented a paper on the cosmology of Ephesians, “Contemplating the ‘Breadth and Length and Height and Depth” of Christ’s Love (Eph 3:18-19): The Downwardly Mobile Christ at the Center of the Cosmology of Ephesians’”, presented at the SBL Annual Meeting in Boston, MA, Nov. 23, 2025.

3) I am presently working on a book that examines the Household Code of Ephesians in its first century AD cultural, religious, and philosophical contexts.

Education

PhD Theology (concentration: New Testament and Early Christianity), Loyola University Chicago (2013)

MTS (concentration: Hebrew Scriptures), University of Notre Dame, South Bend, IN (2005)

MA Pastoral Ministry (concentration: Hispanic Ministry), Boston College, 1995

BA Ursuline College, Pepper Pike, OH (majors: Spanish; Behavioral Science)

Courses Taught

At JCU (2020- present):

TRS 4102/5102 Introduction to Biblical Studies
TRS 2110 Old Testament Survey; TRS 2120 New Testament Survey

Additional courses taught:
New Testament
Synoptic Gospels and Acts; Pauline Literature and Catholic Epistles; Pastoral Strategies in the Letters of Paul; The Passion Narratives; The Gospel of John

Old Testament
Pentateuch and Historical Books; Prophetic Literature; Psalms and Wisdom; The Psalms: Ancient Poetry, Prayer for Today; Introduction to the Old Testament (permanent deacon candidates); Introduction to the Bible; Basics of Biblical Hebrew

Publications

Publications

2025 Review of David A. DeSilva’s commentary on “Ephesians” (NCBC; Cambridge
University, 2022), published in the Catholic Biblical Quarterly, Jan 2025 (87.1), 165-
166. (This review was requested by the reviews editor of the CBQ.)

“More than We Can Ask or Imagine” (Eph 3:20–21): The Resurrection of Christ
in Ephesians and Its Ongoing Multidimensional Cosmic Consequences,” Religions
16: 409. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16040409 (This was an invited paper for a special
issue on the theme of “New Creation” in Ephesians.)

“The Place of Women in the Household of Faith: Sorting through the Disputes
between Paul and Paul’s Inheritors,” submitted March 1, 2025 for publication as a
chapter in a Festschrift in 2026.

Review of Lynn H. Cohick’s commentary on Ephesians (NICNT; Eerdmans,
2020), published August 9, 2025 in the Review of Biblical Literature, a resource of the
Society of Biblical Literature. (This review was written at the request of the reviews
editor of the Journal of the Society of Biblical Literature.)

“‘Torn Between Two Lovers’: Uncovering the Real Fool of Proverbs 9:1-18”: This paper,
an invited essay for a special printed issue of Religions, challenges feminist criticism
which decries the figure of “Dame Folly” as “reinforcing misogynist stereotypes.”
Drawing a sharp distinction between post-exilic Judaism during the Persian Period and
much later Hellenistic Jewish interpretation, this essay offers a reading of Proverbs in
its own language, its own early post-exilic Jewish world, and its own literary context,
thereby recovering the wise women of Israel, so esteemed and valued in post-exilic
Judaism, and uncovering the identity of the real fool of Proverbs 9. (This paper was
recently submitted for peer review and editorial approval and will be published in 2026.)

2015 “Reflections on Dignitatis Humanae Fifty Years after the Second Vatican Council”
Emmanuel Magazine, July/August 2015, 217-222.

2014 “Proper Household Relations in Whose Basileia? Examining Ephesians’ Subtle Revisions
to the Household Code of Colossians,” Conversations with the Biblical World, XXXIV
(2014): 226-249.

“A Table for All Peoples: From God’s Table to Our Own” Emmanuel Magazine,
July/August 2014, 20-27.

2013 1) “Rafael’s Story: Remembering the Stranger We Are Commanded to Love,” America,
Nov. 18, 2013, 26-28.

2) "The Rhetoric of Gender in the Household of God: Ephesians 5:21-33 and Its Place in Pauline Tradition" (2013). Dissertations. Paper 502. http://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss/502 .

2011 “Women Members of the Association(s) Behind the Qumran Scrolls: In Search of a
More Credible Paradigm," Biblical Research, LV (2010): 45-68.

2007 “Studying the Lectionary: Nineteenth through Twenty-Second Sundays After Pentecost;
Canadian Thanksgiving,” Homily Service: A Journal of the Liturgical Conference,
Routledge, 40.11 (October, 2007): 3-21.