Biography
Herbert R. Marbury is Associate Professor of Hebrew Bible and Ancient Near East in the Divinity School at Vanderbilt University. He researches textuality—particularly how biblical texts come to meaning in the Black Atlantic. He holds a B.A. from Emory University, where he studied English literature and African American Studies. While serving as a pastor in The United Methodist Church, he completed his M.Div. at Gammon Theological Seminary in the Interdenominational Theological Center. He holds the Ph.D. in Religion from Vanderbilt University. He is the author of Imperial Dominion and Priestly Genius: Coercion, Accommodation, and Resistance in the Divorce Rhetoric of Ezra-Nehemiah (Sopher Press, 2012) he investigates meanings of the text for ancient Israel facing Persian imperial oppression. His recent work, Pillars of Cloud and Fire: The Politics of Exodus in African American Biblical Interpretation (New York University Press, 2015), which won the Vanderbilt University Chancellor’s Award, focuses on the ways contemporary communities deploy scriptures to construct counternarratives to negotiate ongoing oppression.
Candidate Statement
Amid an environment where our society’s social conscience has been raised by the #BlackLivesMatter (M4BL) and #MeToo movements, and where repression and abuse of power still run rampant in many of our institutions, I believe it is important to be particularly vigilant in protecting each member of the Academy from the experiences of sexual misconduct and other abuses of power. Our lives as academics and as members of this professional society are rife both with challenge and complexity. Our colleagues, by and large, participate in the life of our institutions and our guild in good faith and with good intentions. However, as a 2020-2021 member of the AAR Committee on Professional Conduct, I have seen first-hand how the damage that arises from both intentional and unintentional abuses of personal and institutional power has unforeseen but deleterious rippling effects. These effects impede and sometimes derail the professional careers and burden the personal lives of the disempowered. Moreover, I have also seen how these instances do long-term damage to the cultures of our academic institutions. In other words, I have come to understand how a blithe good faith falls woefully short of meeting the need of the common good of our professional society. The issues that rose to consideration during our committee's deliberations were most often rooted in systemic problems that were products of the structural inequities that plague the lives of our institutions and our guild. Such an environment calls for an ombudsperson who possesses a zeal for advocacy. In that role, I would commit myself to assuring members that this society hears our voices, sees our plights, and will work to dismantle structures of injustice and inequity.
Ultimately, I believe this work is an exercise in holding ourselves accountable and living up to our shared expectations. It is less a reflection of our good intent, than it is a product of our deep and ongoing commitment to working together to create a learned society that lives up to our common values for the flourishing of all our members. I ask you to support my candidacy in this work.