1. Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures
  2. School of Philosophy, Religion and History of Science
  3. People
  4. Profile
Rabbi Robyn Ashworth-Steen

Rabbi Robyn Ashworth-Steen

Profile

I am currently studying for a PhD in Rabbinic Leadership and Biblical Studies with the University of Leeds under a AHRC scholarship funded through the White Rose College of the Arts & Humanities (WRoCAH). 

Since my undergraduate degree in Theology and Religious Studies at Newnham College, Cambridge, I’ve worked as a Human Rights lawyer and then began training for the rabbinate at Leo Baeck College. Upon ordination I worked as Manchester’s first female rabbi at Manchester Reform Synagogue, for a number of years.  I am currently co-chair of the Assembly of Reform Rabbis and Cantors in the UK. I regularly appear in UK media and I’m a Pause for Thought contributor.  

I am interested in creating safe, anti-oppressive, relational, textured, activist communities built by individuals who are enabled to step into their own power and collectively organise for a more just world. 

Research interests

  • Feminist Jewish Biblical Studies
  • Liberation Theology
  • Postcolonial/decolonial readings of the Bible
  • Prophecy
  • Gender based violence in the Bible
  • Abuse in Religious Settings
  • Rabbinic Leadership
  • Pedagogy in the training of Jewish clergy

Publications:

  1. Ashworth-Steen. 2022. Lilith. In: K. Alfond ed. Feeding Women of the Talmud, Feeding Ourselves: Uplifting the Voices of Talmudic Heroines and Honoring Them with Simple, Vegan Recipes. Nashville: Turner.
  1. Ashworth-Steen. 2022. The Power of Language. In: J. Romain ed. What Makes me Angry: Howls of Rabbinic Rage…and Solutions. London: The Movement for Reform Judaism.
  1. Ashworth-Steen. 2020. Wandering Jews: Using our Exilic Condition to Create Communities and Change. In. L. D. Shimada ed. Mapping Faith: Theologies of Migration and Community. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
  1. Ashworth-Steen and D. Kahn-Harris. 2020. If not with others, how?: Creating Rabbinic Activists Through Study. 2(1) . Journal for Interdisciplinary Biblical Studies. pp.127-149.
  1. Ashworth-Steen. 2017. How Satisfactory is Maimonides’ Solution to the Problem of Evil. 50(1). European Judaism, pp.113-122.

Qualifications

  • MA in Applied Rabbinic Studies
  • BA in Theology and Religious Studies
  • Graduate Diploma in Law
  • Legal Practice Course
  • Rabbinic Studies