Morna Dorothy Hooker (born 19 May 1931) is a British theologian and New Testament scholar.

Early life and education

Morna Hooker was born in Beddington on 19 May 1931.^[1] She went to Bristol University where she graduated with first class honours in theology, and then earned her MA.^[2] She worked for a PhD degree at the University of Manchester, then at the University of Durham.

Career and research

She became a Research Fellow in Arts at Durham.^[3] In 1961 she was elected into a temporary, then permanent lectureship at King's College London.^[3] In 1970, she left for a lectureship in Theology at University of Oxford, with a fellowship at Linacre College, Oxford.^[3]

She was Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity within the University of Cambridge from 1976 to 1998,^[3] becoming the first woman to hold the Cambridge degree of D.D.,^[3] and as of 1998 is Professor Emerita. She holds honorary doctorates from the University of Bristol (1994)^[3] and the University of Edinburgh (1997).^[4]

She remains a Fellow of Robinson College, having joined the fellowship as a founding Fellow in 1977,^[3] and is also a Fellow of King's College London (1979)^[3] and an honorary Fellow of Linacre College, Oxford.^[5]

Hooker was the first woman to be elected President of the Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas, an international society of New Testament scholars (1988).^[3] She was the first woman to become a joint editor of The Journal of Theological Studies.^[3]

She has been an active Methodist local preacher.^[2] She has also been Chair of the Wesley House Trustees.^[6]

Her scholarly interests lie in early Christian thought in the setting of Jewish biblical inheritance.^[6] Her research focuses in particular on the Epistles of Paul and the Gospel according to Mark, as well as on Christology.^[2] Her theological standpoint on soteriology is Arminian.^[7]

Personal life

She is the widow of fellow theologian and Methodist minister the Rev. David Stacey, and is sometimes styled Morna Hooker-Stacey.^[3]

Awards

In 2004 she was awarded the Burkitt Medal for Biblical Studies by the British Academy.^[8][9]

Publications

Books

• Jesus and the Servant: The Influence of the Servant Concept of Deutero-Isaiah in the New Testament (1959)
• The Son of Man in Mark (1967)
• What about the New Testament? (jt. ed. 1975)
• Interchange and atonement (1978)
• Studying the New Testament (1979)
• Pauline Pieces/A Preface to Paul (1980)
• Paul and Paulinism (jt. ed. 1982)
• Trial and tribulation in Mark XIII (1983)
• The Message of Mark (1983)
• Continuity and Discontinuity: Early Christianity in Its Jewish Setting (1986)
• From Adam to Christ: Essays on St Paul (1990)
• The Gospel according to St Mark (1993)
• Not Ashamed of the Gospel: New Testament Interpretations of the Death of Christ (1994)
• The Signs of a Prophet: The prophetic actions of Jesus (1997)
• Beginnings: Keys that open the Gospels (1997)
• Endings: Invitations to discipleship (2003)
• Paul: A short introduction (2003)
• Not in Word Alone (ed. 2003)
• Paul: A beginner's Guide (2008)

Articles

• Hooker, Morna (2009). "Authority on her Head: An Examination of I Cor. xi. 10". New Testament Studies. 10 (3).