Tina Beattie

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Tina Beattie
July 2005
Born
Christina Jane Bell

(1955-03-16) 16 March 1955 (age 69)
Lusaka, Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia)
Alma materUniversity of Bristol
Known forCatholic theology and psychoanalytic theory; gender and sexuality; Marian theology; theology and literature and art; atheism and religion; women's rights
SpouseDave Beattie
Children4
Scientific career
FieldsChristian theology
InstitutionsUniversity of Bristol, Wesley College (Bristol), Open University, University of Roehampton – all UK
ThesisGod's Mother, Eve's Advocate: a Gynocentric Refiguration of Marian Symbolism in Engagement with Luce Irigaray (1998)
Doctoral advisorUrsula King
Websitehttps://www.tinabeattie.com

Tina Beattie (born 16 March 1955) is a British Christian theologian, writer and broadcaster.

Until August 2020, she was the Professor of Catholic Studies at the University of Roehampton in London and Director of the Digby Stuart Research Centre for Religion, Society and Human Flourishing at the same university. In retirement, she is remaining Director of Catherine of Siena College at the University of Roehampton and is writing fiction.

Beattie's theological contribution is notable in the areas of Catholic theology and psychoanalytic theory; gender and sexuality; Marian theology; theology and literature and art; atheism and religion; women's rights. She is a long-standing advocate of a more prominent role of women in the Catholic Church.

Personal life and career

Beattie is the eldest of three daughters born to Charlie and Nan Bell. She was born in 1955 in the northern part of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, nowadays Zambia, to Scottish Presbyterian parents and lived there for eighteen years, attending the Dominican Convent School in Lusaka. Beattie also lived in Paris, Nairobi and Harare. She is married to Dave Beattie, and worked as a secretary before the birth of their four children (born in 1978, 1980, 1983, and 1986). In 1986, she converted to Roman Catholicism from Presbyterianism.[1]

After moving to Bristol with her family in 1988, she became a mature student at the University of Bristol in 1991, where she received a first class honours degree in theology and religious studies. In 1998, she completed a PhD on the theology and symbolism of the Virgin Mary in the light of the psycholinguistic theory of Luce Irigaray as a resource for the analysis of Christian writings on Mary and Eve in the early Church and in recent Catholic theology.[1][2]

Beattie lectured at the University of Bristol and Wesley College, Bristol, and also taught for the Open University. She took up a full-time post at the University of Roehampton in 2002.[1] She left her post as Professor of Catholic Studies at the University of Roehampton in August 2020. She continues in her role as Director of Catherine of Siena College, based at the University of Roehampton.[2]

In retirement from active academic research, Beattie has focused on her "first and lifelong passion – to write fiction".[3] Her first novel, The Good Priest, was published in 2019.[4]

Work and publications

Beattie's thesis on the theology and symbolism of the Virgin Mary in the light of the psycholinguistic theory of Luce Irigaray formed the basis of the book, God's Mother, Eve's Advocate (2002), and these ideas are further developed in New Catholic Feminism: Theology and Theory' (2006).[2]

Over the years, she researched and published extensively in the areas of

Hans Urs von Balthasar from the perspectives of feminist theology and critical theory; Christian mysticism and spirituality; theological perspectives on literature and art; atheism and religion (The New Atheists); Catholic moral theology and social teaching; religion and human and women's rights.[2]

She wrote regularly for the Catholic weekly, The Tablet, and The Guardian newspaper, including an eight-part series on Thomas Aquinas.[5] She also presents the Thought for the Day on BBC Radio 4.[1]

She was a theological advisor to Cafod, the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development;[6] the President of the Catholic Theological Association of Great Britain (2006–08);[7] a Director of the Catholic weekly, The Tablet.[1]

After realisation that the question of women's role in the Catholic Church was not among Pope Francis's priorities, Beattie founded an online community, Catholic Women Speak,[8] in December 2014.[9]

Controversies

The University of San Diego withdraws a lecture invitation

In October 2012, the University of San Diego cancelled a visiting fellowship for Beattie following the pressure from financial contributors to the university who objected to the theologian's alleged public dissent from the Church's moral teachings.[10] She was scheduled to give a lecture on depiction of sin and redemption in art.[11] The theologian issued a statement rejecting accusations in deviating from the doctrinal truths of the faith as based on serious distortions of her theological position through use of selective quotations out of their context.[12] In the statement, Beattie explained her understanding of her own mission as a theologian and her beliefs:

  • Though an academic theologian and a practising Catholic, Beattie acknowledges not being a Catholic theologian "if that implies somebody with a licence who is authorised to teach by the official magisterium". She was aware of and always respected the difference between academic work and a theological work as an educator within the Catholic community.
  • Academic theologians must follow "Cardinal Newman's advice of seeking to promote an intellectual culture in which reason rather than fideism is the basis for enquiry and research". In the Catholic tradition, reason and revelation enlighten each other: 'grace perfects nature'. Reason is not the enemy of faith.
  • She always and absolutely respected "the difference between the doctrinal truths of the faith, made knowable through revelation alone, and those truths which are arrived at by reason and which involve philosophical reflection informed by natural law and in engagement with other sources of human knowledge". She always defended the mysteries of faith: "they are the grammar of the Catholic faith and knit our community together across the time and space of our historical existence". She only questioned some of the Church's moral and social teachings informed by reason and natural law, "which according to Catholic tradition must be argued in such a way that Catholics are able to enter into dialogue and debate with non-Catholics on questions of shared concern and practice".
  • She finds deeply offensive being called pro-abortion by some bloggers. She is pro-life, which in the theologian's understanding means not being able to endorse killing "as good or commendable act, whether it be abortion, war, capital punishment or euthanasia". This does not absolve pro-life Christians from engaging with "the complex and often tragic realities of human life", which means that "a rightful concern to minimise the incidence of abortion must be balanced against the knowledge that nearly 70,000 of the world's poorest women die every year as a result of illegal abortion, and many thousands more suffer serious long-term injury".
  • She acknowledges that the question of women's priesthood is of particular complexity, because it is rooted in revelation, and not the natural law tradition. However, since the teaching on women's ordination has never been pronounced infallible, theologians should be free to explore and debate it.[12]

Bishops ban Beattie from speaking in their dioceses

On two occasions, on instructions from the

Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, British bishops banned Tina Beattie from speaking on Church properties in their dioceses. In 2012, Bishop of Clifton, Declan Lang, canceled a lecture she was to give in Clifton Cathedral. The theologian was told it was because she had been a signatory to a letter in The Times arguing that Catholics could support same-sex marriage in good conscience. In 2014, the Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, Leo Cushley, ordered to cancel an event at St Catherine's Convent, Edinburgh, where Beattie was due to speak on invitation of the Edinburgh Circle of the Newman Association. In reply to the Archbishop's claim of Beattie being "known to have frequently called into question the Church's teaching", the theologian responded: "Never in my published writings or talks have questioned any of the doctrinal mysteries of the Catholic faith." She claimed the lay Catholics have the right for a "more reasoned and nuanced public dialogue" about same-sex marriage.[13]

Cafod defends Beattie's theological advisor role

Following signing an open letter to Polish bishops urging support for "early, safe and legal" abortion by Beattie, the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD) came under pressure to withdraw the role of a theological adviser from Beattie. In its statement, CAFOD said that the views in the letter "do not represent nor reflect CAFOD's policies", but refused to meet the demands.[6]

Writings

Books

Selected journal articles and book chapters

Newspaper and magazine articles

External links

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Beattie, Tina. "Facts, Family, Friends and Follies". Tina Beattie's Personal Website. Archived from the original on 4 April 2015. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d "Tina Beattie. Personal profile. Biography". University of Roehampton Research Explorer. Archived from the original on 8 August 2020. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  3. ^ Beattie, Tina. "Who am I". Tina Beattie. Archived from the original on 4 August 2020. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  4. OCLC 1086608784.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link
    )
  5. ISSN 0261-3077
    . Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  6. ^ a b "Cafod to keep Tina Beattie as adviser despite views on abortion". Catholic Herald. 16 June 2016. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  7. ^ "Officers of the Association". Catholic Theological Association of Great Britain. Archived from the original on 30 March 2016. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  8. ^ "Home". Catholic Women Speak. Archived from the original on 1 February 2011. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  9. ^ Beattie, Tina (29 March 2016). "A Place at the Table: The Story of 'Catholic Women Speak'". Commonweal. 143 (7): 15–18.
  10. ^ McElwee, Joshua J. (1 November 2012). "University withdraws theologian's invitation after pressure from financial contributors". National Catholic Reporter. Archived from the original on 4 November 2012. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  11. ^ Baber, H. E. "Trouble in Paradise Home". home.sandiego.edu. Archived from the original on 6 December 2012. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  12. ^ a b Beattie, Tina. "[Personal statement]" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 May 2016. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  13. ^ Lamb, Christopher (25 September 2014). "Archbishop Cushley bans female Catholic theologian from speaking". The Tablet. Archived from the original on 18 December 2018. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
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