Yale Bulletin and Calendar

April 15, 2005|Volume 32, Number 26

Margaret Farley

Conference pays tribute
to ethicist Margaret Farley

The life and work of Margaret Farley, the Gilbert L. Stark Professor of Christian Ethics, will be celebrated at the Yale Divinity School (YDS) Friday-Saturday, April 15-16, at a conference titled "Just Love: Feminism, Theology and Ethics in a Global Context."

The occasion marks the creation of the Margaret Farley Chair in Christian Social Ethics and a Festschrift publication in honor of the scholar's birthday, which will be celebrated at a reception and festival evensong on Friday, April 15.

Farley has taught at YDS for more than 30 years. She was the first woman appointed to serve full-time on the YDS faculty and shared with Nenri Nouwen the distinction of being the first Roman Catholic faculty member at the school.

For decades she has been a progressive theological voice in a broad range of areas such as feminist theology, medical ethics, the role of women in the church, homosexuality and the environment. She is the author or editor of six books, including "Personal Commitments: Beginning, Keeping, Changing," a text that has become a standard for the study of human relationality.

Farley is a founder of the "Project on Gender, Faith, and Responses to HIV/AIDS," which co-sponsored (with the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians) a major conference at YDS in 2001, involving 25 women theologians and ministers from Africa and 25 American women theologians and ministers. Three additional conferences are planned in Africa.

She is also a founder of the Interdisciplinary Bioethics Project at Yale, which brings together teachers and students from around the campus and also hosts visiting scholars who are engaged in bioethics. In 2003, the initiative received a five-year grant from the Donaghue Foundation to establish the Donaghue Initiative in Biomedical and Behavioral Research Ethics.

For her work, Farley received the John Courtney Murray Award from the Catholic Theological Society of America.

The YDS conference will feature four panels exploring Farley's contributions to several important contemporary issues. The topics and panel chairs are: "Method: Feminism, Theology and Ethics," Francine Cardman, Weston Jesuit School of Theology; "Just Sex and the Churches," Jean Porter, University of Notre Dame; "Compassionate Respect: A Larger Ethic for Health Care," Nancy Angoff, Yale School of Medicine; and "Justice and Love for a World in Crisis: HIV/AIDS and Africa," James Keenan, Weston Jesuit School of Theology. A complete conference schedule is available at www.yale.edu/divinity.

All events will take place at Sterling Divinity Quadrangle, 409 Prospect St. The conference is free and open to the public, but those planning to attend should register in advance by sending e-mail as soon as possible to jane.beamon@yale.edu.

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