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An international gathering of religious progressives to affirm
the contribution of reasonable and tolerant religion to public discourse in our society.
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Dr Val Webb BA, BSc(Hons), PhD (Theolog)y |
Val (Skerman) Webb’s professional career began in Brisbane with degrees in microbiology and a research position at the University of Queensland. She has spent most of the last 30 years in Rochester, Minnesota (USA) where her husband Maurice was a surgeon at the Mayo Clinic. Val owned and operated an Art Gallery in Rochester while pursuing her own art career, including publishing two books of her illustrations.
Back in Brisbane in the 1980’s, Val was Superintendent of Communications and Public Relations for The Wesley Hospital and held various leadership positions in the Uniting Church, including inaugural Chair of Queensland’s Commission of Education and Communication. She also completed a B.A. in religious studies at the University of Queensland.
On returning to Rochester, Minnesota in 1988, Val completed a Ph. D. in Theology at Luther Seminary, St. Paul. She has since taught at the University of Minnesota, Augsburg College, Minnesota, Whitley College, Melbourne, Murdoch University, Perth and United Theological College, Sydney. Her books include In Defense of Doubt: an Invitation to Adventure (Chalice Press, 1995), Why We’re Equal: Introducing Feminist Theology (Chalice Press, 1999), John’s Message: Good News for the New Millennium (Abingdon Press, 1999) and Florence Nightingale: the Making of a Radical Theologian (Chalice Press, 2002). Her latest book Like Catching Water in a Net: Human Attempts to Describe the Divine will be published by Continuum New York and London in September 2007.
In Rochester, Val also co-founded The Open Table, a centre for peace and justice; was active in Habitat for Humanity, the Dorothy Day House and Rotary; and for fifteen years led a weekly theology seminar in their 3,000 member church, bringing in guest presenters such as John Shelby Spong, Marcus Borg, John Dominic Crossan and B Brandon Scott.
On her husband’s retirement in 2003, they returned to Mudgee, NSW, where one of their three children runs the award-winning Mudgee Homestead Guesthouse. Val continues to teach as adjunct faculty both in Australia and the United States. They also spend half of each year teaching and volunteering in their respective specialties in developing countries.
