Alice Ogden Bellis states in her book I Am: Biblical Women Tell Their Own Stories, that Brenner is "erudite, witty, clever, feisty, and not at all religious.

Her presidential address at the society's annual meeting was titled "On Scholarship and Related Animals: A Personal View from and for the Here and Now.

"[5] Beverly Roberts Gaventa, then Vice-President of the Society of Biblical Literature, introduced Brenner for her presidential address describing her battle with entrenched sex discrimination in the Israeli academy: "Professor Brenner-Idan undertook her second book, The Israelite Woman: Social Role and Literary Type in Biblical Narrative.

Her expectation was that this book, combined with her earlier publications, would secure her promotion to the status of senior lecturer, the equivalent of a tenured associate professor in the American system.

She was denied promotion on the grounds that 'feminist research was not truly academic, not meaningful, a passing fad and waste of time and energy and money.'