Morna Dorothy Hooker (born 19 May 1931) is a Britishtheologian andNew Testament scholar.
Morna Hooker was born inBeddington on 19 May 1931.[1] She went toBristol University where she graduated with first class honours in theology, and then earned her MA.[2] She worked for a PhD degree at theUniversity of Manchester, then at theUniversity of Durham.
She became aResearch Fellow in Arts at Durham.[3] In 1961 she was elected into a temporary, then permanent lectureship atKing's College London.[3] In 1970, she left for a lectureship in Theology atUniversity of Oxford, with a fellowship atLinacre College,Oxford.[3]
She wasLady Margaret's Professor of Divinity within theUniversity of Cambridge from 1976 to 1998,[3] becoming the first woman to hold the Cambridge degree ofD.D.,[3] and as of 1998 isProfessor Emerita. She holds honorary doctorates from theUniversity of Bristol (1994)[3] and theUniversity of Edinburgh (1997).[4]
She remains a Fellow ofRobinson College, having joined the fellowship as a founding Fellow in 1977,[3] and is also a Fellow ofKing's College London (1979)[3] and an honorary Fellow of Linacre College, Oxford.[5]
Hooker was the first woman to be elected President of theStudiorum Novi Testamenti Societas, an international society of New Testament scholars (1988).[3] She was the first woman to become a joint editor ofThe Journal of Theological Studies.[3]
She has been an activeMethodist local preacher.[2] She has also been Chair of theWesley House Trustees.[6]
Her scholarly interests lie inearly Christian thought in the setting ofJewish biblical inheritance.[6] Her research focuses in particular on theEpistles of Paul and theGospel according to Mark, as well as onChristology.[2] Her theological standpoint onsoteriology isArminian.[7]
She is the widow of fellow theologian andMethodistminister the Rev. David Stacey, and is sometimes styled Morna Hooker-Stacey.[3]
In 2004 she was awarded theBurkitt Medal for Biblical Studies by theBritish Academy.[8][9]
