She previously served as Associate Professor Religion and Chair of the Religion Department at Bowdoin College. There she taught courses in philosophy of religion; western religious thought; and religion and culture, including film and the visual arts.

In 1986, she received her Ph. D. in Philosophy of religion from Boston University.

Her publications include: Religious Imagination and Language in Emerson and Nietzsche and over a dozen articles in collections of essays and professional journals on subjects including philosophy of religion and feminist interpretations of literature, art and film. Currently, she is working on two projects: Choosing Life: Women in the Films of Jane Campion; and a book on nineteenth-century feminist interpretations of the Bible, including those of Sarah Grimke and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.