IBITA, MA. MARILOU S.
Ma. Marilou S. Ibita is a biblical scholar-theologian with advanced degrees in Religious Studies and Theology from the Institute of Formation and Religious Studies, Quezon City, and the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KU Leuven), Belgium, where she earned her PhD and STD. She is a full professor at De La Salle University, a visiting professor at KU Leuven, and was the 2024 Distinguished Fellow of the Anthropocene at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
Dr. Ibita has held leadership roles in the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) and the European Association of Biblical Studies (EABS). At EABS, she co-founded and co-chairs several research units, including The Bible, Ecology and Sustainability, and Museums and the Bible, and co-chairs A Critical History of Exegesis Since Around 1900. Presently, she is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Catholic Biblical Association of the Philippines.
Her academic work engages with the intersection of biblical hermeneutics, sustainability, and human rights. She specializes in the Corinthian Correspondence, the Gospels, and contextual approaches to biblical interpretation (feminist, postcolonial, ecological-economics, trauma-informed, and future-oriented hermeneutics). Her research integrates narrative and historical-critical methods with contemporary concerns, contributing to scholarly discourse that supports the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and advances global justice.