Interview with Dr. Stephanie B. Crowder
By: Anna Grace Glaize
Dr. Stephanie B. Crowder
Dr. Stephanie B. Crowder is the Professor of New Testament and Culture at Chicago Theological Seminary. She is the author of When Momma Speaks: The Bible Through African American Motherhood and Are You for Real?: Imposter Syndrome, the Bible, and Society. Dr. Crowder is also an ordained minister in the National Baptist and Disciples of Christ Churches. You can read more about Dr. Crowder’s work and interests here.
This interview was conducted via Zoom on April 17, 2025, and has been edited for clarity and length.
AGG: How did When Momma Speaks come about?
Dr. Crowder: I write out of who I am, my own social locus and social identity. So, the idea for the book came from when I became a mom. I was preaching at an event, and someone asked me if I had written anything for mothers. In this particular congregation, there were a lot of single mothers who were facing some challenges. That struck a chord with me, because I was living into my own sense of maternal vocation but hadn't written a lot about it.
This one year [at the Society of Biblical Literature meeting], a group of womanist scholars (1) gathered, and we were just going around sharing. It was intriguing to me that the majority of us identified ourselves as either being mothers or grandmothers. I was curious about the ways in which black women are entering into these conversations around motherhood. If you want to read something, and it's not there, why not write it? That's how it all started for me.
AGG: How would you define womanist maternal thought for folks who are curious about the book?
Dr. Crowder: Womanist maternal thought is a framework where we think about how race, class, and gender show up in what we are reading. Particularly as it relates to people's experiences with black mothers. I use black openly and broadly. At the same time, I contextualize it because I'm a black mom living in the United States.
AGG: Rizpah’s a great example of what womanism can do. When did you first notice Rizpah in Scripture?
Dr. Crowder: I was teaching a young adult class. We were going through the Bible, and we had gotten up to 2 Samuel. I was picking particular chapters, and I came across the story of Rizpah. I’m the type [to think], “Well, this is edgy. This is different. This is hard.” This woman risked her own life over dead bodies, and some of the bodies are her own children. And I had never heard it preached. I can’t even say I’d come across it in seminary. I’m pretty sure I’d finished my doctoral program as well.
The book [When Momma Speaks] parallels [Rizpah] with Sybrina Fulton, Lesley McSpadden, and Lucia McBath, who've had to mourn publicly the deaths of their sons. What are the ways in which systems kill, and which systems cause demise? What are the ways in which mothers—and particularly, for the book, black mothers—wrestle with that?
AGG: You write about the mother of James and John [the sons of Zebedee] as a sports mom.
Dr. Crowder: There's a whole sports mom phenomenon. There was a show recently where Shaquille O'Neal's mom and Steph Curry's mom had a show talking about their lives. My children played football, basketball, a little bit of softball. When they got to high school, I was introduced to wrestling. One did track for a minute. Having learned to stifle some things (because some coaches take things personally), I’m there with Mrs. Zebedee! Whether it's basketball or football, we want our children to shine and to be center stage.
And sports are a means to pay for college. I could understand Mrs. Zebedee's request. Because if you're living within a context of imperialism and a context of patriarchy [as Mrs. Zebedee is], how does this request help her as well? Parents want their children to have the best. Closed mouths don’t get fed. Why not ask? I’ve tried to teach my children that it doesn’t hurt to ask.
AGG: It was refreshing how practical your chapters are. You include questions at the end of each chapter. Is writing for general audiences normal for you?
Dr. Crowder: I was always intentional when applying to Ph.D. programs, because I didn't want to leave my own ecclesial background behind. I wanted to find ways to bridge what was a possible gap between the church and the academy. I wasn’t starting out in the academy [when writing When Momma Speaks]. There’s a certain freedom I get to have. Let’s push some boundaries and say, “You can have a scholarly book that can be a trade book and a trade book that can have in-depth scholarship.”
There’s also the practicality that says, “Wait a minute. You don't have to read all six chapters at once.” Perhaps today I'm going to focus on Hagar. Maybe the next week the group meets, they can focus on Zebedee's wife.
AGG: You’ve written a book on imposter syndrome. What made you connect the Bible and imposter syndrome?
Dr. Crowder: I'm pretty confident, pretty well spoken. Very few people rattle me. Very few situations make me disheveled unless it has to do with creepy, crawly animals. But when I became Vice President of Academic Affairs, there were things that made me second-guess [myself]. In trying to figure out what that was, I ran across imposter syndrome.
Not being able to let go of the Bible and my own New Testament training, I said, “How can I, in an eisegetical way—because the Bible does not say ‘imposter syndrome’ anywhere—reimagine the Bible as speaking in an imposter syndrome tongue?” I've always loved that text where Samuel tells Saul, “You are small in your own eye.” That's part of what imposter syndrome does. If you see yourself small and are acting small, how is that a danger and impediment to the people you are leading?
That whole womanist piece also comes into play because there is the whole race, class, and gender tripod. Saul is a first, right? I was the first African American and first woman to serve as Dean at CTS. There’s that added pressure of being the first. If we show up small, what could that mean for an institution and for those generations who are coming behind us?
AGG: Do you have a favorite woman in the Bible? Or a woman you’re drawn to at the moment?
Dr. Crowder: There are two that came to mind. I’ve been preaching lately about Hagar…about this whole problem of the divine telling Hagar to go back [to slavery under Sarah and Abraham].
The second one that came to mind is Jael. It’s really Deborah and Jael who are facilitating this whole march against the enemy. I just love the tent peg thing. Jael’s tent peg—use what you have! Apparently, I like muddy, grimy, messy, icky texts.
AGG: Is there anything that you're working on now?
Dr. Crowder: I was invited to a Wabash Center Writing Colloquy. I love Wabash and its programs. I’m trying my hand at poetry, which has been so freeing. You don't have to worry about footnotes and endnotes and citations. So, my journal article—I think the journal is going to come out next year—is going to be in the form of a poem.
RESOURCES:
(1): Womanist biblical scholarship analyzes biblical texts through the interpretive lens of black women’s experiences. Read more about womanist perspectives here: “Womanist Biblical Interpretation” by Vanessa Lovelace.