Dr. Ashley London Bacchi

Dr. Ashley London Bacchi received her doctorate in Jewish History and Culture at the Graduate Theological Union in May 2015. She is originally from New York and received her BA in Classics with a double minor in Art History and Philosophy from Hartwick College. She moved to California in 2005 to earn a post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Classics from UC Davis before moving to Berkeley for her Masters at the GTU and SKSM in Cultural and Historical Studies of Religion, focusing on Jewish and Christian Traditions. Her scholarship focuses primarily on women and power in the literary and material culture of the Hellenistic world to offer counter narratives to uncontested male dominance in Hellenistic literature and culture. This work contributes to historical discourses associated with women’s ordination, reproductive rights, and gender diversity in prophetic authority and political leadership.

Bacchi has dedicated herself to an interdisciplinary approach to Ancient Mediterranean religions and culture to break down oppressive models that enforce simplistic dichotomies and kyriarchies. Her work contextualizes texts that have been used to marginalize and oppress people through the normalization and naturalization of systems of oppression. By raising up silenced voices and traditions, her work challenges meta-narratives that enforce the regulation of gender performance and the restraining of sexuality.

Bacchi has presented her work in the U.S., Europe, and Oceania, and published in the Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception, Zutot: Perspectives on Jewish Culture, Journal of Feminist Studies of Religion, and the Shlavi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women. Her award winning book, Uncovering Jewish Creativity in Book III of the Sibylline Oracles: Gender, Intertextuality, & Politics represents her background in Feminist and Literary Theory, Art History & Archaeology, and Ancient Mediterranean History. She was chosen as a Research Associate and Visiting Faculty for the Harvard Divinity School Women’s Studies in Religion Program’s 2024-2025 cohort. Her public lecture “The Sibyl: Reclaiming the Power of an Ancient Persona” is available to watch online.