M Shawn Copeland to Deliver Mater Dei Institute Legacy Lecture in Theology

Professor M Shawn Copeland will deliver to the 2020 Mater Dei Institute Legacy Lecture in Theology on Wednesday 4 March 2020. The lecture will take place at 7.30PM in the John Hand Room on the DCU All Hallows Campus. The title of Professor Copeland's talk is 'The Political Imagination of Jesus of Nazareth'.

A reception will follow the lecture. Admission is free, but registration is required. Please contact Mary Hayes (mary.hayes@dcu.ie) to RSVP or for further information.

Dr M Shawn Copeland is Professor Emerita of Theology at Boston College. An award-winning author, she has written and/or co-edited six books including her Knowing Christ Crucified: The Witness of African American Religious Experience (Orbis, 2018); Enfleshing Freedom: Body, Race, and Being (Fortress 2010); The Subversive Power of Love: The Vision of Henriette (Delille (2009); Uncommon Faithfulness: The Black Catholic Experience (2009), and 125 articles, book chapters, reviews, and blog entries on spirituality, theological anthropology, political theology, social suffering, gender and race. Professor Copeland received the Ph. D. in Systematic Theology from Boston College in 1991, and until her retirement in June 2019, she was a tenured member of its Theology Department. She has taught at Marquette University, Yale University Divinity School, and St. Norbert College and has held visiting positions at Harvard University Divinity School.

Professor Copeland is a former Convener of the Black Catholic Theological Symposium (BCTS), an interdisciplinary learned association of Black Catholic scholars, and is recognized as an important influence in North America in drawing attention to issues surrounding African American Catholics. She was the first African American to serve as president of the Catholic Theological Society of America (CTSA), the principal professional association of Catholic theologians in North America. Professor Copeland is the recipient of six (6) honorary degrees as well as the Seton Medal and the Congar Award for excellence in Theology. In November of 2017, the University of Dayton conferred upon her the Marianist Award, which is given to “a Catholic scholar, author, and theologian who has made an outstanding contribution to the intellectual life.” In June 2018, the Catholic Theological Society of America presented her with its highest honor, the John Courtney Murray Award for “distinguished theological achievement."

The Mater Dei Institute Legacy Lecture in Theology has been established to honour the long tradition of theology at Mater Dei Institute of Education, prior to its incorporation into Dublin City University. Generous funding for this lecture has been provided by the Mater Dei Scholarship and Grants Committee.