Sallie McFague — LLMpedia

Sallie McFague
Name	Sallie McFague
Birth date	1933
Death date	2019
Nationality	American
Occupation	Theologian, Author, Professor
Alma mater	Duke University, Yale University
Notable works	The Body of God; Models of God; Life Abundant

Contents

Sallie McFague was an American theologian and ecotheologian whose work reconfigured Christian doctrine through imaginative metaphors and a commitment to ecological ethics. She integrated resources from Paul Tillich, Thomas Aquinas, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Karl Barth, and John Calvin with contemporary feminist thought and environmental studies. Her writings influenced debates in liberal theology, process theology, feminist theology, ecotheology, and public discussions in institutions such as Harvard Divinity School and King's College London.

Early life and education

Born in 1933 in the United States, McFague completed undergraduate studies before entering graduate programs at Duke University and Yale University, where she engaged with thinkers associated with Princeton Theological Seminary and Union Theological Seminary. Her doctoral work drew on conversations with scholars connected to Tillichian circles and the legacy of Reinhold Niebuhr and Paul Ramsey. During this period she encountered debates from the Second Vatican Council era and dialogues influenced by the revival of interest in Thomas Aquinas among Anglican and Roman Catholic theologians.

McFague held faculty positions at institutions including Vanderbilt University, Drake University, and Northwestern University before joining the faculty at Vanderbilt Divinity School where she served as a professor of theology. She was a visiting scholar at Harvard Divinity School and lectured widely at universities such as Yale University, Princeton University, Oxford University, Cambridge University, University of Chicago, and Duke University. Her participation in professional organizations included memberships in the American Academy of Religion and the Society of Christian Philosophers, and she contributed to conferences at venues like the World Council of Churches and the National Council of Churches USA.

McFague authored several influential books including Models of God (1987), The Body of God (1993), and Life Abundant (2001), situating her project within ongoing conversations with figures such as Paul Tillich, Jürgen Moltmann, Gustavo Gutiérrez, Rosemary Radford Ruether, and Elizabeth A. Johnson. Her work engaged with canonical texts like the Gospel of John and the theological legacies of Augustine of Hippo and Martin Luther. She dialogued with scholars from the Anglican Communion, Roman Catholic Church, and Protestant traditions, integrating feminist theorists such as Simone de Beauvoir and Judith Butler and environmental thinkers like Aldo Leopold and Rachel Carson.

Central to McFague's theology was the claim that metaphors shape doctrine; she proposed alternative metaphors including God as mother, God as friend, and most notably God as Body to reconceive relations among humanity, creation, and divinity. Building on strands from process theology associated with Alfred North Whitehead and pastoral concerns traced to Dietrich Bonhoeffer, she argued for an ecological ethic resonant with Deep Ecology and policy conversations in forums like the United Nations Environment Programme and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Her ecological project engaged activists and scholars from movements connected to Greenpeace, Sierra Club, and faith-based groups in the World Wildlife Fund networks.

McFague's proposals were praised by figures in feminist theology such as Christina Feldman and critics included scholars in more conservative circles drawing on Karl Barth and Pope John Paul II who questioned anthropomorphic and nontraditional metaphorical language. Debates unfolded in journals connected to the American Theological Society and symposia at institutions like Notre Dame University and Boston College. Her influence extended to public theology dialogues in venues like The New York Times opinion pages, curricula at seminaries including Princeton Theological Seminary and Candler School of Theology, and environmental ethics programs at Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies and Oxford's Centre for the Environment.

McFague received honorary degrees and awards from universities such as Chicago Theological Seminary and institutions linked to the Anglican Communion and United Church of Christ. Her legacy is preserved in conferences, festschrifts, and courses that pair her work with that of Jürgen Moltmann, Elizabeth A. Johnson, Rosemary Radford Ruether, and Larry Rasmussen. Collections in archives at seminaries including Vanderbilt University and papers cited in symposia at Harvard Divinity School continue to influence scholarship, church practice, and environmental activism into the twenty-first century.

Category:American theologians Category:Feminist theologians Category:Ecotheology