Virginia R. Mollenkott

Virginia R. Mollenkott was a well-known lesbian, feminist, and influential Bible scholar, born on January 28, 1932 in Philadelphia, PA. Her roots were in evangelical Christianity. She earned her B. A. from Bob Jones University in 1953, her M. A. from Temple University in 1955, and her Ph.D. from New York University in 1954. In 1989, she was given an honorary Doctorate in Ministries from Samaritan College. In her career, she was a professor of English at Temple University, chaired the English depart at Shelton College in Ringwood, NJ and Nyack College in Nyack, NY. She taught at William Paterson University in Wayne, NJ for 30 years and retired in 1997, as an emerita professor of English. In the 1970's she wrote a number of books on feminist theology. She and Letha Dawson Scanzoni wrote, Is the Homosexual My Neighbor? Another Christian View (1978). It helped to inform and advance the conversation with evangelicals on gay spirituality. She wrote over 12 books in addition to numerous articles published in scholarly and literary journals as well as church-publications. She died on September 25, 2020 at her home in New Jersey at the age of 88.