Beverly Jean Wildung Harrison (1932–2012) was an American

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

feminist theologian whose work was foundational for the field of

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

Christian ethics Christian ethics, also known as moral theology, is a multi-faceted ethical system. It is a Virtue ethics, virtue ethic, which focuses on building moral character, and a Deontological ethics, deontological ethic which emphasizes duty according ...

. She taught at

Union Theological Seminary Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York (shortened to UTS or Union) is a Private college, private ecumenical liberal Christian seminary in Morningside Heights, Manhattan, affiliated with Columbia University since 1928. Presently, Co ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

for 32 years.

Early life and education

Beverly Jean Wildung was born in

Saint Paul Paul, also named Saul of Tarsus, commonly known as Paul the Apostle and Saint Paul, was a Christian apostle ( AD) who spread the teachings of Jesus in the first-century world. For his contributions towards the New Testament, he is generally ...

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

, on August 4, 1932. Her parents, Harold Wildung and Adahlia Knodt Wildung, were both Presbyterians and they had four children, Beverly was the youngest. She attended

Macalester College Macalester College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. Founded in 1874, Macalester is exclusively an undergraduate institution with an enrollment of 2,142 students in the fall of 2023. The college ha ...

where she studied with

Robert McAfee Brown Robert McAfee Brown (1920–2001) was an American Presbyterian minister, theologian, and activist. Life Born on May 28, 1920, in Carthage, Illinois, Brown was the son of a Presbyterian minister and the grandson of theologian and Presbyterian mini ...

. After graduating in 1954, she continued her education at

in New York City, where she earned a

Master of Religious Education The Master of Religious Education (MRE) is a terminal academic degree in preparation for professional teaching ministry, usually offered by Christian institutions. The curriculum includes two years of theological study and sometimes a thesis. Al ...

degree and her

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...

degree in 1975.

Career

After serving as an assistant campus chaplain at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, in the 1960s, she returned to Union Theological Seminary in 1966 to join the faculty as an instructor. She received tenure in 1980 and became the Caroline Williams Beaird Professor of Christian Ethics in 1986. While at Union, she authored and co-authored several influential works on feminist Christian ethics. Her lectures on "The Power of Anger in the Work of Love" and "The Role of Social Theory in Religious Ethics" were distributed widely among students and faculty, before being added to a published collection of essays, called ''Making the Connections: Essays in Feminist Social Ethics'' (1985), which has been called "one of the best books ever published in feminist religious thought." Her first published book ''Our Right to Choose: Toward a New Ethic of Abortion'' (1983), was a significant contribution to the discussion of moral issues surrounding the abortion debate. She was also a co-author and editor of ''God's Fierce Whimsy: Christian Feminism and Theological Education'' (1985), a collection of articles by Christian feminists of diverse backgrounds, published by the Mudflower Collective. By highlighting the perspectives of women of color and lesbians, ''God's Fierce Whimsy'' helped challenge the traditional canon and methodologies of Christian theological education. In the 1970s, Harrison co-founded the Feminist Ethics Consultation of the Northeast, a mentoring organization for women in ethics. In 1982, she became the first woman to be elected president of the Society of Christian Ethics. She retired in 1999. Harrison died on December 15, 2012, in

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

Awards

Harrison was granted the lifetime achievement award from the Society of Christian Ethics in 2012, but it was awarded posthumously at the annual meeting in 2013.

Works

*''Our Right to Choose: Toward a New Ethic of Abortion'' (1983) *''Making the Connections: Essays in Feminist Social Ethics'' (1985) *''God's Fierce Whimsy: Christian Feminism and Theological Education'' (co-author, editor) (1985) *''The Public Vocation of Christian Ethics'' (co-editor) (1986) *''Justice in the Making: Feminist Social Ethics'' (2004)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harrison, Beverly Wildung 1932 births 2012 deaths 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American theologians Women Christian theologians 20th-century American women writers 20th-century Calvinist and Reformed theologians 20th-century Presbyterians American Christian socialists American ethicists American women academics American women non-fiction writers Christian ethicists Christian feminist theologians Christian socialist theologians Female Christian socialists Lesbian academics Macalester College alumni Presbyterian socialists Presbyterians from New York (state) American socialist feminists Union Theological Seminary alumni Union Theological Seminary faculty University and college chaplains in the United States Writers from Saint Paul, Minnesota 21st-century American LGBTQ people 21st-century American women