Linda F. Hogan (born 1964) is an Irish

ethicist Ethics is the philosophical study of moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches include normative ethics, applied ethics ...

, ecumenist and academic, specialising in

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 ...

political ethics Political ethics (also known as political morality or public ethics) is the practice of making moral judgments about political action and political agents. It covers two areas: the ethics of process (or the ethics of office), which covers public off ...

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

, gender, and

ecumenism Ecumenism ( ; alternatively spelled oecumenism)also called interdenominationalism, or ecumenicalismis the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships ...

. She is

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

of Ecumenics at

Trinity College Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...

, where she was also its vice-provost from 2011 to 2016. She worked as a lecturer at the

University of Chester The University of Chester is a public university located in Chester, England. The university originated as the first purpose-built teacher training college in the UK. As a university, it now occupies five campuses, campus sites in and around Ch ...

and

University of Leeds The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed Y ...

before joining the staff of Trinity College, Dublin.

Early life and education

Hogan is from

Callan, County Kilkenny Callan () is a town and Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish in County Kilkenny in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated 16 km (10 mi) south of Kilkenny on the N76 road to Clonmel, it is near the border with County Tipperary. It is ...

, Ireland. She was educated at St. Brigid's College, an all-girls

Catholic school Catholic schools are Parochial school, parochial pre-primary, primary and secondary educational institutions administered in association with the Catholic Church. , the Catholic Church operates the world's largest parochial schools, religious, no ...

in Callan. She studied history and theology at

National University of Ireland Maynooth Maynooth University (MU) (), is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland in Maynooth, County Kildare, Ireland. Maynooth University was formerly known as National University of Ireland, Maynooth (NUIM; ). It was Ireland ...

and

St Patrick's College, Maynooth St Patrick's Pontifical University, Maynooth (), is a pontifical Catholic university in the town of Maynooth near Dublin, Ireland Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mou ...

(a Catholic seminary and

pontifical university A pontifical university or athenaeum is an ecclesiastical university established or approved directly by the Holy See, composed of three main ecclesiastical faculties (Theology, Philosophy and canon law (Catholic Church), Canon Law) and at least o ...

that shares NUIM's campus), graduating with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

(BA) degree. She remained at Maynooth to study for a two-year

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

(MA) degree. Then moved to

, to undertake research in theology for 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 ...

(PhD) degree, which she completed in 1991.

Academic career

Hogan began her academic career as a

lecturer Lecturer is an academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. They may also conduct re ...

in ethics and religion at the

, England, for the 1992/93 academic year. During this time, she met Fr James F. Keenan, a Jesuit and ethicist: together, they would found the Catholic Theological Ethics in the World Church in 2003. After a year teaching at Chester, she moved to the

, England, as a lecturer in gender, ethics and religion in its Department of Theology and Religious Studies. She was part of the university's Centre for

Gender Gender is the range of social, psychological, cultural, and behavioral aspects of being a man (or boy), woman (or girl), or third gender. Although gender often corresponds to sex, a transgender person may identify with a gender other tha ...

and

Women's Studies Women's studies is an academic field that draws on Feminism, feminist and interdisciplinary methods to place women's lives and experiences at the center of study, while examining Social constructionism, social and cultural constructs of gender; ...

and its Centre for

Business Ethics Business ethics (also known as corporate ethics) is a form of applied ethics or professional ethics, that examines ethical principles and moral or ethical problems that can arise in a business environment. It applies to all aspects of business c ...

. In 2001, Hogan returned to

Trinity College, Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Univ ...

as a lecturer in its School of Ecumenics. She was a

visiting professor In academia, a visiting scholar, visiting scientist, visiting researcher, visiting fellow, visiting lecturer, or visiting professor is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic fo ...

at the

Sydney College of Divinity The Australian University College of Divinity (formerly Sydney College of Divinity) (AUCD) is a consortium of Christian theological educational institutions and Bible colleges based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The college is structured ...

and the

Melbourne College of Divinity The University of Divinity is an Australian collegiate university with a specialised focus in divinity and associated disciplines. It is constituted by twelve theological colleges from seven denominations and three schools. The University of Di ...

in 2005. In 2006, she was awarded the Chair of Ecumenics, and served as Head of School and Director of the Irish School of Ecumenics from 2006 to 2010. From 2011 to 2016, she was Vice-Provost and Chief Academic Officer of Trinity College Dublin. In 2021 she was considered for the role of Provost of the college when the position was being considered for one of three women, including

Linda Doyle Linda E. Doyle is an Irish academic and educator who is the 45th Provost of Trinity College Dublin, the university's chief officer, having assumed the office in August 2021. An electrical engineer, she has had a long academic career at Trinity ...

and

Jane Ohlmeyer Jane Ohlmeyer, , is a historian and academic, specialising in early modern Irish and British history. She is the Erasmus Smith's Professor of Modern History (1762) at Trinity College Dublin and Chair of the Irish Research Council, which funds fr ...

, making it the first time a woman was provost since the founding of the college: Doyle was subsequently elected.

Views

In 2012, Hogan was a sponsor of the Catholic Scholars' Declaration on Authority in the Church: amongst other things, this called for more autonomy for bishops, active

laity In religious organizations, the laity () — individually a layperson, layman or laywoman — consists of all Church membership, members who are not part of the clergy, usually including any non-Ordination, ordained members of religious orders, e ...

involvement in church governance, and democracy in the selection of bishops and other church leaders. In reference to the 2015 referendum on

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same legal Legal sex and gender, sex. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 38 countries, with a total population of 1.5 ...

, Hogan argued that there was no theological impediment to same-sex

civil marriage A civil marriage is a marriage performed, recorded, and recognized by a government official. Such a marriage may be performed by a religious body and recognized by the state, or it may be entirely secular. History Countries maintaining a popul ...

and that the "Christian tradition affirms the fundamental equality and dignity of all people, whether we are heterosexual or gay".

Honours

In 2007, she was made a Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin, an honorary appointment. In 2013, it was suggested that

Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

might appoint her as the first female

cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. She had been nominated by Fr James Keenan SJ. In 2023 she was elected a member of the

Royal Irish Academy The Royal Irish Academy (RIA; ), based in Dublin, is an academic body that promotes study in the natural sciences, arts, literature, and social sciences. It is Ireland's premier List of Irish learned societies, learned society and one of its le ...

Selected works

* ''From women's experience to feminist theology'' (1998) Sheffield Academic Press, Sheffield * ''Confronting the truth: conscience in the Catholic tradition'' (2000) Paulist Press, New York, NY * * * * ''Keeping Faith with Human Rights'' (Moral Traditions series) (2015) Georgetown University Press, Washington, DC

References

External links

*
Linda Hogan
on

Academia An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hogan, Linda 1964 births Living people Irish ethicists Christian ethicists Irish human rights activists People in Christian ecumenism Alumni of St Patrick's College, Maynooth Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Fellows of Trinity College Dublin Christian feminist theologians Members of the Royal Irish Academy 20th-century Irish Roman Catholic theologians 21st-century Irish Roman Catholic theologians People from Callan, County Kilkenny Academics of the University of Leeds Activists from County Kilkenny