Mary C. Boys

Mary C. Boys
Born	(1947-11-04) November 4, 1947 Seattle, WA
Title	Dean of Academic Affairs and Skinner and McAlpin Professor of Practical Theology at Union Theological Seminary
Academic background
Education	Fort Wright College of the Holy Names (Spokane, WA), Columbia University and Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York
Alma mater	Columbia University and Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York (PhD)
Thesis	(1978)
Academic work
Institutions	Boston College Union Theological Seminary
Notable works	Has God Only One Blessing? (2000)

Mary C. Boys (born November 4, 1947), is the Dean of Academic Affairs and Skinner and McAlpin Professor of Practical Theology at Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York. She was formerly Professor of Religious Education at Boston College, where she served for 17 years.

Education

• Fort Wright College of the Holy Names in Spokane, WA, B.A. in Religion and Humanities, 1969
• Columbia University and Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York, M.A. 1975
• Columbia University and Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York, Ed.D. 1978
• Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Doctor of Humane Letters, 2000
• Catholic Theological Union (Chicago, IL), Doctor of Theology, 2006

Biography

Mary Boys was born in Seattle, Washington, and grew up embraced by the pre-Vatican II Catholic church. Living in Seattle she was energized by conversations with friends across multiple faith traditions. The Second Vatican Council, begun in 1962, opened up new possibilities for leadership and action within the church. Boys has noted that the Vatican II document Nostra Aetate, published in 1965, was a crucial catalyst for her formation and imagination as a young person, and has remained so throughout her career.

In August of 1965 Boys joined a Roman Catholic women’s religious order, the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary. She made her final vows to the community in 1972.

Boys completed a BA in Religion and Humanities at Fort Wright College of the Holy Names in Spokane, WA and began her teaching career as an instructor in Religion and in English at the Holy Names Academy in Spokane, WA. Soon after she traveled to New York City to begin a joint M.A. in Religion and Education at Columbia University and Union Seminary, a degree she completed in 1975. She then went on to pursue the Ed.D., successfully defending her dissertation in 1978 in the joint program at Columbia University and Union.

From 1977 to 1994 she was on the faculty of Boston College, moving smoothly through the process from instructor to full professor. While there she wrote voluminously, garnering a reputation as the key Catholic scholar in the field of religious education who was engaging issues of Jewish/Christian understanding.

In 1994 she returned to her alma mater, Union Seminary, as the Skinner and McAlpin Professor of Practical Theology, and in July of 2013 she was installed as Dean of Academic Affairs at Union . She continues to hold both of these positions.

Significant Contributions to Religious Education

Boys began her research in the field of religious education by engaging historical critical scholarship, which was only beginning to have an impact in the Catholic context due to Vatican II.

She published numerous articles, chapters, and eventually the book, Biblical Interpretation in Religious Education (1980). During that period she also became more deeply involved with the Association of Professors and Researchers in Religious Education. That association led to her remarkable scholarly collaboration with Dr. Sara Lee in Christian-Jewish learning and dialogue.

Boys has made significant contributions to the field of religious education through her work on “learning in the presence of the other.” She has fundamentally reshaped not only Christian-Jewish dialogue, but also the scholarship of learning in multi-faith contexts across myriad traditions. The recipient of many large grants, she has been a senior advisor to several national projects, including the Valparaiso Project in the Education and Formation of Faith, the Catholic-Jewish Colloquium, Educating for Religious Particularism and Pluralism, and the ATS Project on Christian Hospitality and Interreligious Education.

Awards

Boys received the International Council of Christians and Jews Sir Sigmund Sternberg Award in 2004, the Eternal Light Award from the Center for Catholic-Jewish Studies at St. Leo University in 2012, and the Ann O’Hara Graff award from the CTSA Women’s Consultation on Constructive Theology in 2013. She has honorary doctorates from four institutions, and has given endowed lectures at multiple colleges and universities, including the Madeleva Lecture at St. Mary’s College, Notre Dame, IN, and The Cardinal Willebrands Lecture in Amsterdam, NL. She was a Henry Luce fellow in 2009-2010.

Books

• Boys, Mary (2013). Redeeming Our Sacred Story: The Death of Jesus and Relations between Jews and Christians. A Stimulus Book. New York and Mahway, NJ: Paulist Press. ISBN 978-0809148172.

• Boys, Mary (2006). Christians and Jews in Dialogue: Learning in the Presence of the Other. Co-author with Sara S. Lee. Woodstock, VT: Skylight Paths Publishing. ISBN 978-1594732546.

• Boys, Mary (2005). Has God Only One Blessing? Judaism as a Source of Christian Self-Understanding. New and Mahway, NJ: Paulist Press. ISBN 978-0809139316.

• Boys, Mary (1997). Has Jewish-Christian Dialogue: One Woman’s Experience. New and Mahway, NJ: Paulist Press. ISBN 978-0809137381.

• Boys, Mary (1989). Educating in Faith: Maps and Visions. San Francisco: Harper & Row. ISBN 978-0060610371.

• Boys, Mary (1988). Education for Citizenship and Discipleship. New York: Pilgrim. ISBN 978-0829807967.

• Boys, Mary (1981). Ministry and Education in Conversation. Winona, MN: St. Mary’s Press. ISBN 978-0884891260.

• Boys, Mary (1980). Biblical Interpretation in Religious Education. Birmingham, AL: Religious Education Press. ISBN 978-0891350224.

Edited Books

• Boys, Mary; Cunningham, Philip A.; Sievers, Joseph; Henrix, Hans Hermann; Svartvik, Jesper, eds. (2011). Christ Jesus and the Jewish People Today: New Explorations of Theological Interrelationships. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans. ISBN 978-0802866240.

• Boys, Mary (editor) (2005). Seeing Judaism Anew: Christianity’s Sacred Obligation. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield. ISBN 978-0742548824. {{cite book}}: |author1-first= has generic name (help)

External links

• Profile on the Union Theological Seminary website
• Profile at Scarboro Missions Site