Biography
Early Life
M. Shawn Copeland was born in Detroit, Michigan. She completed Catholic primary and secondary school there.
Education
Copeland earned a B.A. in English from Madonna College (now Madonna University). She earned her Ph.D. in Systematic Theology from Boston College in 1991. She received four fellowships while there.
Academic Teaching and Writing
Dr. Copeland is a womanist, a former Catholic Sister, and a Catholic Theologian.
Copeland taught at St. Norbert College and Marquette University. She also taught at Yale University Divinity School from 1989-1994. She led systematic theology courses in the Institute for Black Catholic Studies at Xavier University of Louisiana from 1994-2005. Copeland began teaching at Boston College in 2002. She taught there for 17 years. Dr. Copeland is now Professor Emerita of Theology and African and African Diaspora Studies at Boston College. She was a visiting professor at Harvard Divinity School and Candler School of Theology at Emory University. She is the Theologian-in-Residence at Saint Katharine Drexel Parish in Roxbury, Massachusetts.
Dr. Copeland’s research and writing in African and African American history and religion is groundbreaking. It focuses on understanding the human person from a religious perspective. This field is called theological anthropology. Her work focuses on the body, gender, and race as well as social suffering. She writes about solidarity with the suffering of Jesus on the cross. Her research also explores and describes an African American Catholic Theology. This includes study of the experiences of African American Catholics. In addition, Copeland writes Political Theology. It explores socio-economic, religious, cultural, political, and technological contexts. These are the places in which persons express their faith and seek to become fully human. This work is foundational for the field of theology. Dr. Copeland lectures in academic as well as in church settings all over the world. Countries include Belgium, Canada, France, Italy, Nigeria, and South Africa. Her lectures describe how African American religious, historical and cultural experiences inform Christianity. Copeland lifts up respecting and valuing human differences. She also discusses the importance of justice in the Gospel’s message. She points out the importance of advocating for social justice for the good of humanity. Christian discipleship is another important lecture topic.
In 2003, Dr. Copeland became the first African American woman and the first African American person elected President of the Catholic Theological Society of America. She was convener of the Black Catholic Theological Symposium. She was co-chair of the Program Unit on Women and Religion of the American Academy of Religion (AAR). She was a steering committee member of the AAR group for Womanist Approaches to Religion and Society. She was a steering committee member of the Black Theology Group. She also served on the AAR Grant Committee on Research Proposals.
Copeland has written seven books, including Enfleshing Freedom: Body, Race, and Being and Knowing Christ Crucified. She was an editor or co-editor of several others. These include two volumes of Concilium: Violence against Women (1/1994) and Feminist Theologies in Different Contexts (1996/1). Dr. Copeland is an elected member in the American Theological Society, the Society for the Study of Black Religion (SSBR), and the Society for Values in Higher Education (SVHE).
Dr. Copeland received many awards for contributions to Catholic theology. The Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities awarded her the Monika Hellwig Award in 2021. The Catholic Theological Society of America awarded her the John Courtney Murray Award. This recognized a lifetime of theological achievements and contributions to Catholic theology. Six colleges and universities awarded her honorary degrees. In 2009, the Black Religious Scholars Group awarded Copeland the Distinguished Scholar Award.
