When I first read Mary Hunt's work, back in the early 1990's, I thought she was way out there. I thought she was more controversial in her speak and her talk about the Catholic Church than Mary Daly. But from day 1, I loved her matter-of-fact ness, her way of spelling it all out, laying it on the table, telling it like it is. I thought she was pretty badass back then, just by reading her stuff. Then she came to speak at Central Michigan University, and in a small group discussion at the United Methodist campus ministry, a professor (Dr. Michael Stemmeler) asked her this: "If there are so many problems with the Bible itself, should we just do away with it all together?" Obviously the question made an impression on me. I still remember it. Who was this woman that elicited people to ask such questions? At a Christian Lesbians Out Together conference, I had a quick chance to get to know Mary a little better. I was struck by her ability to look at a problem and offer such a well thought out systematic solution that is unfailingly true to her beliefs. She's such a great thinker, and I think the way she takes on the Catholic church is also measured and well thought out. Someday, I hope she's successful (with a host of other women) in creating change in the Catholic Church. When I met her, though, what I was most impressed with was her down to earth nature, her approachable demeanor. When I was struggling in seminary with a professor who spent a whole class session talking about holy blood and never mentioning women once in any way, I emailed Mary a few times for help. That connection at that time was invaluable to me. She's an amazing woman, still a badass. Her recent article on the Catholic Church's war on women is here: http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/politics/5908/we_are_all_nuns/ Here's her bio:Mary E. Hunt, Ph.D., is a feminist theologian who is co-founder and co-director of the Women's Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual (WATER) in Silver Spring, Maryland, USA. A Catholic active in the women-church movement, she lectures and writes on theology and ethics with particular attention to social justice concerns. Dr. Hunt received her Ph.D. from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. She also received the Masters in Divinity degree from the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley and the Masters in Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School. Her undergraduate degree in Theology and Philosophy is from Marquette University. She completed Clinical Pastoral Education and is fluent in Spanish. She spent several years teaching and working on women's issues and human rights in Argentina as a participant in the Frontier Internship in Mission Program. She continues that work through WATER's project, "Women Crossing Worlds," an ongoing exchange with Latin American women. Dr. Hunt was Adjunct Assistant Professor of Women’s Studies at Georgetown University for five years. She has lectured and taught at numerous institutions. For the 2000-2001 academic year she was at Harvard Divinity School as a Research Fellow at the Center for the Study of Values in Public Life. She has taught in summer programs at Iliff School of Theology, Pacific School of Religion, and Lancaster Theological Seminary. She is the editor of A Guide for Women in Religion: Making Your Way from A to Z (Palgrave, 2004) and co-editor, with Patricia Beattie Jung and Radhika Balakrishnan, of Good Sex: Feminist Perspectives from the World’s Religions (Rutgers University Press, 2001). She is the author of Fierce Tenderness: A Feminist Theology of Friendship (Crossroad Publishing Company, 1991), which was awarded the Crossroad Women's Studies Prize. She edited From Woman-Pain to Woman-Vision: Writings in Feminist Theology (Fortress Press, 1989) by Anne McGrew Bennett. Among her many publications are articles in the Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, Concilium, Conscience, ReligionDispatches.org, and Mandragora. She has published chapters in books such as Feminist Theologies: Legacy and Prospect (ed. Rosemary Radford Ruether), Heterosexism in Contemporary World Religion: Problem and Prospect (ed. Marvin M. Ellison and Judith Plaskow), God Forbid (ed. Kathleen Sands), Sexuality and the Sacred (ed. James Nelson and Sandra Longfellow), Feminist Theological Ethics (ed. Lois Daly), Sexual Diversity and Catholicism (ed. Patricia Beattie Jung), and Women’s Voices and Visions of the Church: Reflections from North America (ed. Letty M. Russell, Aruna Gnanadason, and J. Shannon Clarkson), as well as entries in the Encyclopedia of Women and Religion in North America (ed. Rosemary Skinner Keller and Rosemary Radford Ruether). Mary is a member of the Society for Christian Ethics and the American Academy of Religion where she co-chaired the Women and Religion Section. She is an advisor to the Women's Ordination Conference. She is a member of the Editorial Board of I.B. Taurus. She lives in Silver Spring, Maryland, with her partner, Diann L. Neu, and their daughter, Catherine Fei Min Hunt-Neu.
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