Made in man's image? How God's body haunts us today

Even in a post-Christian society, the spectre of God still haunts us. Whether we like it or not, the Bible’s account of its ancient deity has shaped our own culture, underwriting those deeply-rooted ideas about sex, gender, and power that impact us all. Above all, the Bible has shaped a world in which men continue to be valued over women. To mark International Women’s Day, the Rosalind Franklin Lecture will strip God bare, and reveal how the explicitly male deity at the heart of the Bible built the foundations of the cultural cage in which women still find themselves today.

About Professor Francesca Stavrakopoulou

Francesca Stavrakopoulou is a broadcaster and Professor of Hebrew Bible and Ancient Religion. She is interested in biblical traditions and religious practices most at odds with Western cultural values. Francesca presented a three-part BBC documentary series about the Bible and archaeology, The Bible’s Buried Secrets, in March 2011. She also appears regularly on the BBC’s The Big Questions and Sunday Morning Live. Her first non-academic book God: an anatomy will be published in April 2020.

About the Rosalind Franklin Lecture series

Marking International Women’s Day, the Rosalind Franklin Lecture explores and celebrates the contribution of women towards the promotion and advancement of aspects of humanism in the UK and around the world. The Rosalind Franklin medallist has made a significant contribution in one of these fields.

The lecture and medal are named for Rosalind Franklin, humanist and scientist, whose contribution to science for many years went unacknowledged on account of her sex but who is today rightly celebrated.