Beverly Wildung Harrison was born in 1932 and died in 2012. She was a pioneering American Presbyterian feminist theologian whose work contributed greatly to the field of Christian ethics. As the first woman President of the Society of Christian Ethics, she spent 32 years teaching at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, where she was widely regarded as the “mother of Christian feminist ethics.”
Harrison’s contributions were marked by a passionate commitment to justice and a rigorous application of feminist social theory. Her landmark book, Our Right to Choose: Toward a New Ethic of Abortion, provided a groundbreaking moral argument for women’s reproductive freedom, asserting that women’s moral agency and bodily integrity are essential social goods. Other influential works include Making the Connections: Essays in Feminist Social Ethics and God’s Fierce Whimsy: Christian Feminism and Theological Education, which she co-authored.
Harrison consistently emphasized the interconnectedness of economic, racial, sexual, and gender justice issues, advocating for the oppressed and challenging traditional theological frameworks. Her legacy continues through her extensive writings and her profound impact as a mentor to generations of scholars in feminist ethics. She often collaborated with her companion of many years, feminist theologian Carter Heyward.
