The Escobedo Saint John’s Bible Lecture Series
The Escobedo Saint John’s Bible Lecture Series brings to campus biblical scholars whose pursuit of knowledge demonstrates the complementarity of faith and reason illuminated by the artwork of The Saint John’s Bible. Exemplifying the richness of the Catholic Intellectual Tradition, it enhances both the intellectual development and spiritual growth of our students.
The Escobedo Saint John’s Bible Lecture Series Endowment is for the recruitment of scriptural scholars, research and curriculum design at St. Mary’s University and related programmatic support throughout the Archdiocese of San Antonio. This program ensures St. Mary’s plays a lead role in advancing Catholic Studies.
Thanks to a generous gift from Trustee Emeritus Ruben Escobedo (B.B.A. ’60) and his wife Verónica Salazar Escobedo, the Escobedo Saint John’s Bible Lecture Series was created and allows St. Mary’s University to share the remarkable illuminated pages with members of the
St. Mary’s community, and with faith communities from across Texas and the nation.
In addition to the public lectures, each semester artistic events will take place that will bring together professional artists, scholars, teachers and students to work alongside our campus and local communities to foster the importance of the sacramental imagination as is present in the illuminations and calligraphy of The Saint John’s Bible.
For more information, contact Jason King, Ph.D., Beirne Director of the Center for Catholic Studies, at jking25@stmarytx.edu.
They are also interdisciplinary in nature, reflecting on aspects of sacred scripture, interpretation, lived religious experience, and spiritual insight in conversation with other fields of study.
The Escobedo lectures are often part of a larger program in collaboration with academic departments and student life programs, such as University Ministry and Community Engagement, pairing scholarly presentations of the Bible with other creative, intellectual, and spiritual endeavors.
At St. Mary’s, the volumes of The Heritage Edition have been in classrooms, at new student orientations, in campus liturgies and at the Marianists’ residential communities. In addition, volumes are exhibited year-round in special hand-crafted display cases in St. Louis Hall, the University’s signature building, and the Louis J. Blume Library on campus. Faculty, students, parents, alumni, donors, and other friends of the University experiencing The Saint John’s Bible Heritage Edition in conjunction with the Escobedo programs have been astounded by the Bible at both on- and off-campus events at which has been exhibited. Learn more about the Saint John’s Bible at St. Mary’s University.
Learn more about the lecture series
Fall 2022
“Between the Throne and the Cross: Divine Encounter and Prophetic Mediation in the St. John’s Bible” featuring Anathea Portier-Young, Ph.D.
Spring 2022
“Apocalypse, Now What? Latina/o/xs and the Book of Revelation” featuring Jacqueline M. Hidalgo.
Fall 2021
“U.S. Immigration and Biblical Interpretation: The Politics of Belonging” featuring Francisco Lozada, Jr.
Spring 2021
“I Am Babylon: A Postcolonial Womanist Interpretation of the Woman Babylon in the Book of Revelation” featuring Rev. Shanell T. Smith, Ph.D., teaching elder in the Presbyterian Church, professional doctoral coach, institutional consultant and speaker
Fall 2020
“Biblical Hagar in Black and White” featuring Nyasha Junior, Ph.D., Associate Professor at Temple University
Past Speakers
Upcoming Events
This Fall, the lectures of the Center for Catholic Studies will reflect on the question, how can we flourish while facing challenges and difficulties in our world today?
Belonging to the Body of Christ: Pauline Images and the Work of Caring
Featuring Allison Gray, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Theology and Greek, St. Mary’s University
Tuesday, Nov. 12
7 p.m. | Mengler Conference RoomAs the U.S. Surgeon General noted in 2023, loneliness affects more than 60% of the people in the United States. Its negative health effects are about the same as smoking several cigarettes a day. Humans were not made to be alone. Drawing from her book, Reforming the Household of God: Paul’s Model of Belonging, St. Mary’s Associate Professor of Theology and Greek Allison Gray, Ph.D., will talk about how St. Paul’s understandings of the Church can foster belonging through care and community building.
Allison L. Gray, Ph.D., studies the New Testament and early Christian literature of the first four centuries C.E. Her research focuses on tales about saints, martyrs and miracle workers. She examines how biographers adopt and adapt features of Greco-Roman literature from their contemporary world to present Christianity to a variety of readers. Gray teaches courses on New Testament texts and their historical contexts, including the religions and philosophical traditions of the Roman Empire. She also teaches a two-semester sequence of Koine Greek, the language used by New Testament authors and their contemporaries. Gray is the recipient of the 2019 Alice Wright Franzke Feminist Award and the 2020 Distinguished Faculty Award.
About the speaker
Depression as a Wilderness Experience: The Bible as a Resource for Life with Depression
Featuring Jessica Coblentz, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Theology, Saint Mary’s College – Notre Dame
Thursday, Nov. 21
7 p.m. | Mengler Conference RoomThis lecture will reflect on depression. This mental health challenge saps motivation and purpose from people. There are no easy diagnoses of its causes and no easy treatments. Jessica Coblentz, Ph.D., studied this in her book, Dust in the Blood: A Theology of Life with Depression. In her talk, she will explore the idea of wilderness in the Bible to help think about and navigate depression.
Jessica Coblentz, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Religious Studies and Theology at Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Indiana. She is also a 2024–2025 Visiting Scholar at the Center of Theological Inquiry in Princeton, New Jersey. Coblentz is the author of Dust in the Blood: A Theology of Life with Depression (Liturgical Academic), which won the 2023 Best Book Award from the College Theology Society. Coblentz’s writing has been featured in popular venues such as the National Catholic Reporter, U.S. Catholic, America and Give Us This Day, where she is a regular contributor. Before working as a theologian, she served for several years in Roman Catholic national and diocesan religious education, parish young adult ministry and college campus ministry. She earned her Ph.D. in systematic theology from Boston College.
About the speaker