Sallie McFague Papers

McFague was born on May 25, 1933, in Quincy, Massachusetts, and grew up in the nearby city of Milton. She graduated magna cum laude from Smith College in 1955 with a bachelor of arts in English literature. She also graduated magna cum laude from Yale Divinity School with a bachelor of divinity in 1959. She then went on to earn a master of arts and doctorate in theology from Yale University in 1960 and 1964, respectively. McFague was named an assistant professor of theology at Vanderbilt Divinity School in 1970. Five years later, then-Chancellor Alexander Heard appointed McFague as dean of the Divinity School. News stories reported that McFague was the first woman to serve as dean of a Divinity School in the United States.

In 1979, McFague resigned as dean but returned to full-time teaching and research at the Divinity School, where she became the inaugural holder of the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Professorship. The endowed chair was established in 1989 by the Carpenter Foundation to honor the role of women in the church and academy. That year she also was named the Harvie Branscomb Distinguished Professor, given in recognition of “distinguished accomplishment in furthering the aims of Vanderbilt University.”

McFague became an emerita Vanderbilt professor in 2000 and moved to Canada, where she became a distinguished theologian in residence at the Vancouver School of Theology. In 2011, she was invited by the Dalai Lama to participate in his conference on ecology, ethics and interdependence.

McFague died in Vancouver, British Columbia, on November 15, 2019.