Rev. Letty Russell | Feminist theologian, 77
The Rev. Letty Russell, 77, a pioneer in feminist theology who taught and wrote about the subject from a global perspective, has died of cancer in Guilford, Conn.
The Rev. Letty Russell, 77, a pioneer in feminist theology who taught and wrote about the subject from a global perspective, has died of cancer in Guilford, Conn.
One of the first women hired to the faculty of Yale Divinity School, she died July 12, the school announced.
A Presbyterian minister, she developed a Bible-study class in the early 1950s while pastor of New York's predominantly black and Hispanic East Harlem Protestant Parish. Her classes looked at scriptural passages about liberation for the oppressed. She considered all women to be part of that group.
As the feminist movement gained prominence, Dr. Russell combined Christian symbols with equal-rights issues.
Dr. Russell earned a master's degree from Harvard Divinity School and a doctorate of theology from Union Theological Seminary in New York City. She joined the Yale faculty in 1974 and continued teaching there part-time after she retired in 2001.
She married Hans Hoekendijk, a Dutch professor of ecumenism, who died in 1975. She later formed a lasting partnership with Shannon Clarkson, who survives her. - L.A. Times