Susan M. Calef, MA, PhD

After majoring in Philosophy as an undergraduate, Susan M. Calef earned an M.A. in Theology (concentration in Biblical Literature and Languages) from Catholic Theological Union (Chicago), which included studies in Greece, Turkey, Israel, and Egypt; then a second M.A. and a Ph.D. in New Testament and Early Christianity in the Christianity and Judaism in Antiquity program at the University of Notre Dame. She has taught New Testament courses for both undergraduate and graduate students and for Creighton’s Christian Spirituality Program as well as courses for local parishes and the archdiocesan deacons. Her administrative roles have included service as the Director of Graduate Studies in Theology and Director of the Women's and Gender Studies Program.

Prior to doctoral studies Dr. Calef worked in various ministries in both urban and rural settings: tutoring young men diverted from incarceration to a Job Corps Program in southwest Virginia; social service work with runaway teens at Covenant House and 'shopping bag' ladies in New York; tutoring and recreational work with inner city children in the South Bronx; house-mothering for pregnant teens; social justice advocacy at a center for justice and peace; pastoral and social ministry in Colorado and Southwest Virginia; teaching religion, coaching, and retreat work in Catholic schools. These experiences inform the 'lenses' through which she sees the world and are the basis of her commitment to study the Gospels' transformative potential for a more just world, including a more just economic system.

Dr. Calef's regular course offerings include a course designed for future healthcare professionals and others whose profession will address human suffering; another on gender, economy, and violence in biblical traditions; an upper-division course on Bible, Spirituality, & American Public Life which, in its focus on the intersection of race, gender, and economics, explores the ways in which a biblical spirituality can contribute to a 'Spirited citizenship' that attends to racialized and gendered economic disparities. Her upper division course on Women and the Bible highlights women’s insights into the meanings of biblical texts and the impact of biblical texts on women's lives.

Initially, Dr. Calef's scholarship focused on gender in biblical traditions and in early Christianity, including reconstruction of the roles of women in Jesus' reign of God movement and in the earliest communities of Jesus-believers. Her primary interest in this work was Mary Magdalene, the women in Pauline communities, and the figure of Thecla in the apocryphal Acts of Paul and Thecla. Her publications also include a study of Paul's argument for women's head coverings in 1 Cor. 11:2-16 as well as a critical analysis of the roles of Genesis and Pauline texts in the biblical construction of “authority” as a masculine prerogative. In recent years, due to her interest in the Scripture as a source of theology and spirituality, Dr. Calef has turned her attention to the Gospels, publishing primarily on Mark and Luke, including a Reading Guide on the Gospel of Mark for the Catholic Study Bible. Reflective of her primary interest in biblical spirituality, her current projects - Cross Connections for a World in Denial and Word Made Flesh: Toward an Incarnational Spirituality - share the fruit of her teaching in the Christian Spirituality Program. Both projects include attention to the signs of the times, the impact of the current political economy, and the urgent need for ministries of hope.

Dr. Calef speaks to church and women’s groups on biblical topics and gives Scripture-based retreats and days of recollection. She is especially interested in identifying each Gospel’s transformative potential for life in the world, including their implications for our shared public life and a Spirited citizenship.