Dr. Phyllis Trible (October 25, 1932 - October 17, 2025) was the Baldwin Professor of Sacred Literature Emerita of Union Theological Seminary in New York City, where she taught from 1979 to 1998. She was a pioneer in modern feminist biblical scholarship focusing on the roles of gender in scripture. She left Union to become involved in the founding of the divinity school at Wake Forest University, serving as University Professor until 2012. Born in Richmond, VA, she earned her BA from Meredith College in 1954 and her PhD in the joint doctoral program at Union/Columbia University in 1963.

She is best known for her second book, Texts of Terror: Literary-Feminist Readings of Biblical  Narratives (1984), focusing on four women – Hagar, Tamar, Jepthah’s daughter, and the unnamed concubine – whose stories, told in scripture, involve horrific abuse. A lifelong advocate for women, both past and present, she was a teacher and practitioner of rhetorical criticism, a critical method of biblical interpretation. In poetic language she explored the intricacies of biblical texts to tease out meanings of relevance. Professor Trible taught generations of clergy and lay people to read sacred text with care and responsibility, encouraging her students to “bring your hardest questions to scripture,” assuring them, “the text will sustain it.” 

Her other publications include God and the Rhetoric of Sexuality (1978), Rhetorical Criticism: Context, Method, and the Book of Jonah (1994). Deeply interested in how different traditions might shed light on the same texts, she co-edited (with Letty M. Russell) Hagar, Sarah, and Their Children: Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Perspectives (2006). Lecturing all over the world (Aotearoa, Australia, Canada, England, Germany, Italy, Japan, Scotland, Spain, Taiwan), she was a mesmerizing speaker and a powerful presence who loved Scripture as she recognized the moral responsibility of its readers to use the Bible for weal rather than woe.