M. Shawn Copeland

M. Shawn Copeland
Born	(1947-08-24) August 24, 1947
Nationality	American
Occupation	Theologian
Title	Professor Emerita
Academic background
Alma mater	Boston College Madonna College
Influences	James Cone Bernard Lonergan
Academic work
Discipline	Systematic theology
Sub-discipline	Theological anthropology Political theology Womanist theology Black Catholic theology
School or tradition	Catholic theology
Institutions	Boston College Xavier University of Louisiana Yale Divinity School Marquette University
Influenced	Andrew L. Prevot

Mary Shawn Copeland (born August 24, 1947), known professionally as M. Shawn Copeland, is a retired American womanist and Black Catholic theologian, and a former religious sister. She is professor emerita of systematic theology at Boston College and is known for her work in theological anthropology as well as political theology.

Biography

An only child, Copeland grew up in Detroit, Michigan. She received her B.A. in English in 1969 from Madonna College, in Michigan, before becoming a Felician sister. After she became involved in protests against the Archdiocese of Detroit's attempts to close Black Catholic schools, she felt pressure from within her order and transferred to the Adrian Dominican Sisters in 1971.

She completed her PhD in systematic theology in 1991 from Boston College, and left religious life in 1994.

Copeland has held posts at Xavier University of Louisiana, Yale Divinity School, and Marquette University. She worked as an adjunct professor in the Department of Theology at Boston College for a number of years, and joined in 2003 as Associate Professor of Systematic Theology.

From 2003 to 2004, Copeland was the first African American and first African American woman to serve as president of the Catholic Theological Society of America (CTSA). From 2001 to 2005, Copeland was also the convenor of the Black Catholic Theological Symposium (BCTS).

She became a full professor at BC in 2013, retiring and becoming Professor Emerita in 2019. In October of that same year, she delivered the Cunningham Lectures in New College, University of Edinburgh, on the topic "Theology as Political: The Weight, the Yearning, the Urgency of Life." In 2020, she began a one-year term as the Alonzo L. McDonald Family Chair on the Life and Teachings of Jesus and Their Impact on Culture at Emory University. As part of her term, she delivered public lectures in Fall 2020 and Spring 2021.

She gave the keynote at the CTSA gathering in June that year. She delivered the keynote at the BCTS gathering the same year, in the fall at the University of Notre Dame.

Honors

In 2018, Copeland became the first African American theologian honored with the prestigious John Courtney Murray Award, the Catholic Theological Society of America's highest honor. A festschrift was also produced that year in honor of Copeland, entitled Enfleshing Theology.

Controversy

In 2017, a lecture of Copeland's at Madonna University was canceled after conservative Catholic media outlets (namely Church Militant) published articles critiquing Copeland's stance on LGBT issues, which has at times been in conflict with official Church teachings.

Works

• M. Shawn Copeland (2009). The Subversive Power of Love: The Vision of Henriette Delille. New York: Paulist Press. ISBN 978-0-8091-4489-1.
• M. Shawn Copeland (2010). Enfleshing Freedom: Body, Race, and Being. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press. ISBN 978-0-8006-6274-5.
• M. Shawn Copeland (2018). Knowing Christ Crucified: The Witness of African American Religious Experience. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books. ISBN 978-1-62698-298-7.