Because “Father Doctor” is the typical subject of a tribute, Mother Doctor is a worthy title for Rosemary Radford Ruether. She trains, supports and inspires generations of women and men who want to change the study of religion from patriarchal to egalitarian, from hyper-textual to lived, from normative to alternative. She changed the subject without even looking the radical, though real radicals usually don't look it.

I was an undergraduate philosophy and religion major at Graceland College when I first heard the name Rosemary Radford Ruether. Sexism and God-talk was required reading in contemporary theology and was my introduction to both Christian systematic theology and feminism. In 1991 I graduated with an MTS from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary (G-ETS) and in 1997 I graduated from what was then the joint PhD program between Northwestern University and G-ETS. I distinctly remember Rosemary defending my course of study to a seminary colleague who wondered, during a team advising session with me, what would happen if I was asked to teach in an area my studies had neglected, namely the Reformation. She turned to him and said, “She'll learn it then.” Then she looked at me, over her glasses, as if to say, “You do plan on rising to every and all such occasions, don't you?”

She turned out to be right, not about the area, but about my teaching career.