I remember meeting Phyllis Trible for the first time in August of 1990. I had just arrived as an international master’s student at Union Theological Seminary, where she was the Baldwin Professor of Sacred Literature—a position she held from 1980 to 1998. I had to get her signature to register for my fall classes, as online registration did not yet exist. I was climbing up the final steps of the increasingly narrow spiral staircase when I saw Phyllis waiting outside her office. Slim and slender, she wore her usual khaki pants with a belt and a tucked-in shirt. Her black hair framed piercing blue eyes that welcomed me into her office as we greeted each other. I immediately thought, She is a real feminist! No skirt or big jewelry, just no-fuss business attire and a contained but friendly smile. I registered for her course on literary criticism and the Bible, understanding that I would have to work very hard there. A year later, I was her doctoral student.
Phyllis’s mentorship and later her friendship have been a cherished gift over the decades, and along with many others I mourn her recent death at age 92. Fortunately, I spent a delightful Sunday brunch with her barely three weeks before she died. She ordered avocado toast and for dessert a slice of delicious chocolate cake. I will always remember fondly her vibrant company during our last meal together.
Phyllis was born in Richmond, Virginia, on October 25, 1932, a little more than a decade after women became eligible to vote in the United States. At the time, there were no feminist Bible scholars. Mary Ely Lyman (1887–1975) became the first female lecturer at Union in 1929, but she did not teach feminist exegesis. Phyllis grew up in a Southern Baptist church, and later she told the story of a female missionary who she met while attending Bible camp in the Blue Ridge Mountains. One morning, the missionary asked the group of young girls, “Little girls, everything God created got better and better. What was the last thing God created?”
