IAHR-WSN

This network has been founded in 2006 by IAHR Past President Rosalind I. J. Hackett and former IAHR Executive Committee member Morny Joy to provide a forum for women in Religious Studies throughout the world to be in contact with one another.

Women Scholars Network

Steering Committee

Ursula KingUrsula King

1 Salisbury Road
Redland
Bristol BS6 7AL
England

Professor Emerita of Theology and Religious Studies and Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Advanced Studies, University of Bristol;
Professorial Research Associate, Department of the Study of Religions,
School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London;
Fellow of Heythrop College, University of London.

BASR Member (British Association for the Study of Religions)
EASR Honorary Fellow  (Europeans Association for the Study of Religions)
FRSA: Life Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, London
Society of Authors, London
European Society of Women in Theological Research

E-mail

Education

    PhD - 1977 (London), King's College, University of London
    MA - 1969 (Delhi), Philosophy, Class 1, University of Delhi
    STL - 1963 (Paris), Theology, "magna cum laude",  Institut Catholique, Paris 

Honors and Awards

  • DD h.c - 2003 (Dayton), University of Dayton, Ohio  
  • Dr theol.h.c. - 2000 (Oslo) Faculty of Theology, University of Oslo
  • DD h.c. - 1996 (Edinburgh), New College, University of Edinburgh
  • 1996-97 - Bampton Lecturer, University of Oxford
  • 1969 - Indian Philosophical Congress Gold Medal for the Best Candidate in the MA Examination in Philosophy, University of Delhi;
  • 1969 - Thadani Memorial Prize for the Best Paper in Indian Philosophy
  • 1960-63 - Boursière du Gouvernement Français, Paris (for studies at Institut Catholique and Sorbonne)
  • 1958-63 - Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes, Bonn (National Scholarship in Germany) 

Areas of Specialization

  • Gender studies in religion
  • the thought of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
  • contemporary comparative studies of mysticism and spirituality 

Areas of Interest

  • Indian religions, especially modern Hinduism
  • pluralism and interfaith dialogue
  • method and theory in the study of religions
  • religion and evolution
  • religion and ecology

Major Relevant Publications

    1993

    • Women and Spirituality.  Voices of Protest and Promise.  Revised second edition, London: Macmillan and University Park, PA: Penn State Press
    • "Rediscovering Women's Voices at the World's Parliament of Religions", in E Ziolkowski, ed, A Museum of Faiths.  Histories and Legacies of the 1893 World's Parliament of Religions, Atlanta, Ga: Scholars Press, 325-43

    1994

    • (ed), Feminist Theology from the Third World.  A Reader, London: SPCK and Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books

    1995

    • (ed) Religion and Gender, Oxford and New York: Blackwell
    • "Historical and Phenomenological Approaches to the Study of Religion" in F. Whaling, ed., Theory and Method in Religious Studies. Contemporary Approaches to the Study of Religion.  Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter. 41-176

    1996

    • Spirit of Fire. The Life and Vision of Teilhard de Chardin. Illustrated biography, Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books; new edition 2015

    1999

    • (ed) Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. Writings Selected With an Introduction. Modern Spiritual Masters Series. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books

    2001

    • (ed.) Spirituality and Society in the New Millennium. Brighton and Portland, Oregon: Sussex Academic Press
    • Christian Mystics. Their Lives and Legacies throughout the Ages. Mahwah, New Jersey: Hidden Spring - Paulist Press; London: Routledge, 2004

    2004

    • Gender, Religion and Diversity: Cross-Cultural Perspectives (co-edited with Tina Beattie) London and New York: Continuum.

    2005

    • "Smart, (Roderick) Ninian (1927-2001)" in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography,  Oxford University Press 2004-5, entry in on-line edition (http://www.oxforddnb.com)

    2008

    • The Search for Spirituality. Our Global Quest for a Spiritual Life.   New York: Bluebridge.
    • 'Gender-kritische (Ver)Wandlungen in der Religionswissenschaft. Ein radikaler Paradigmenwechsel' in Anna-Katharina Höpflinger, Ann Jeffers, Daria Pezzoli-Olgiati, eds, Handbuch Gender und Religion, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht UTB, 29-40.

    2009

    • "Searching a Feminine Mystical Way for the Twenty-First Century" in Elaine L. Graham, ed., Grace Jantzen – Redeeming the Present. Farnham, Surrey & Burlington: Ashgate, 111-128.

    2011

    • Teilhard de Chardin and Eastern Religions. Spirituality and Mysticism in an Evolutionary World. New York and Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press

    From 2002-2005 I worked as consultant responsible for the Gender and Religion entries of the second edition of the Encyclopedia of Religion (2005). 

Other Information of Interest

    1991-94 - President, British Association for the Study of Religions

    1981-87 - Honorary Secretary, British Association for the History of Religions; Bulletin Editor (1977-1981); 1977-87 Executive Committee Member

    1992 -95 - President, The Teilhard Centre for the Future of Man, London

    1993-95 - President, European Society of Women in Theological Research

    1972 - Vice-President, World Congress of Faiths: The Inter-Faith Fellowship

    1986 - Interfaith Consultant to the former Archbishop of Canterbury, the Rt  Revd Robert Runcie

    2014-17 - Judge, Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion

    Journal of the British Association for the Study of Religions, Vol 19 (2017): Festschrift: Essays in Honour of Ursula King (OPEN ACCESS)