Jamie Theresa Phelps, O.P. (born October 24, 1941) is an American Catholic theologian. Phelps, who is

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

, is known for her contributions to womanist theology.

Biography

Phelps was born in Alabama, the youngest of six children of a Catholic household. She became an Adrian Dominican Sister in 1959. Phelps pursued her PhD in systematic theology from

Catholic University of America The Catholic University of America (CUA) is a private Roman Catholic research university in Washington, D.C. It is a pontifical university of the Catholic Church in the United States and the only institution of higher education founded by U.S. ...

, publishing her dissertation in 1989 as ''The Mission Ecclesiology of John R. Slattery''. She has taught at

Loyola University, Chicago Loyola University Chicago (Loyola or LUC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1870 by the Society of Jesus, Loyola is one of the largest Catholic universities in the United States. Its namesake is Saint Ignat ...

and

Seattle University Seattle University (SeattleU) is a private Jesuit university in Seattle, Washington. Seattle University is the largest independent university in the Northwestern United States, with over 7,500 students enrolled in undergraduate and graduate prog ...

, and for eight years as Director of the Institute for Black Catholic Studies and the Katharine Drexel Professor of Systematic Theology at

Xavier University Xavier University ( ) is a private Jesuit university in Cincinnati and Evanston (Cincinnati), Ohio. It is the sixth-oldest Catholic and fourth-oldest Jesuit university in the United States. Xavier has an undergraduate enrollment of 4,860 studen ...

in New Orleans. Phelps helped to restart the annual meetings of

Black Catholic Theological Symposium The Black Catholic Theological Symposium is a United States-based Catholic organization founded in 1978 to promote theological education and research concerning Black Catholics. History In 1978, the first meeting of the Black Catholic Theolog ...

in 1991, after two first meetings in 1978 and 1979.

Honors

In 2010, Phelps received the Ann O'Hara Graff Memorial Award from the Women's Seminar in Constructive Theology of the

Catholic Theological Society of America The Catholic Theological Society of America (CTSA) is a professional association of Catholic theologians founded in 1946 to promote studies and research in theology within the Catholic tradition. Its members are primarily in the United States and C ...

Works

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References

1941 births Living people Catholic University of America alumni African-American theologians Religious studies scholars Women Christian theologians Womanist theologians 20th-century American Roman Catholic theologians 21st-century American Roman Catholic theologians African-American Roman Catholic religious sisters and nuns 20th-century African-American women writers 20th-century American women writers 20th-century African-American writers 21st-century American women 21st-century African-American women writers 21st-century American women writers 21st-century African-American writers African-American Catholic consecrated religious {{Christian-theologian-stub