{{Short description|American theologian and author}} '''Ellen Tabitha Charry''' (born 1947) is an American theologian and author who is the Margaret W. Harmon Professor of Systematic Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary.
==Early life and education== Born Ellen T. Zubrack,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/inquirer/obituary.aspx?n=dana-charry&pid=1224944|title=Dana Charry Obituary|publisher=Legacy.com}}</ref> Charry grew up in Philadelphia<ref name=path/> and earned a BA in social work at Barnard College. She then obtained a Masters in Social Work from Yeshiva University.<ref name=path/> After her children were born, she returned to study, graduating with both an MA and PhD in religion from Temple University.<ref name=pts/> Her 1987 dissertation, supervised by Paul van Buren (himself a student of Karl Barth), was titled ''Franz Rosenzweig and the Freedom of God''.<ref name=tribute/> From 1989 to 1991, she was a postdoctoral fellow at Yale Divinity School with a grant from the Henry Luce Foundation.<ref name=pts/>
==Career== Charry was on the faculty of the Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University from 1992 until 1997.<ref name=pts/> She joined the faculty of Princeton Theological Seminary in 1997, teaching interfaith, historical and systematic theology.<ref name=pts>{{cite web|url=https://www.ptsem.edu/people/ellen-t-charry|title=Ellen T. Charry|publisher=Princeton Theological Seminary}}</ref> She is the Margaret W. Harmon Professor of Systematic Theology.
Charry has served on the editorial boards of ''The Christian Century'', ''Scottish Journal of Theology'', and ''Pro Ecclesia'' and edited ''Theology Today'' from 1997 to 2004.<ref name=pts/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://cct.biola.edu/people/ellen-charry/|title=Ellen Charry|work=The Table|publisher=Biola University}}</ref>
Charry's research has focused on how religious commitments and theological convictions contribute to human flourishing, and interfaith understanding between Judaism and Christianity.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.happinessandwellbeing.org/ellen-charry|title=Ellen Charry|publisher=Happiness and Wellbeing}}</ref> She has written on Christian doctrine, moral formation, and the intersections between theology and psychology.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Happy? A critical analysis of salvation in Ellen Charry that portrays human flourishing as healing, beauty and pleasure|first=Nadia|last=Marais|journal=Verbum et Ecclesia|volume=36|number=1|year=2015|doi=10.4102/ve.v36i1.1359|doi-access=free}}</ref> She says that Christians have been averse to happiness, and argues that thinking about happiness is both consistent with Scripture and represented in ancient Christian thought.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cct.biola.edu/happiness-in-the-christian-life/|date=May 2, 2014|first=Ellen|last=Charry|publisher=Biola University Center for Christian Thought|title=Happiness in the Christian Life|access-date=April 14, 2021}}</ref> Her book ''God and the Art of Happiness'' coins the term "asherism" to refer to a happiness that is found in "the pursuit of an excellent way of life in community."<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/themelios/review/god-and-the-art-of-happiness/|title=God and the Art of Happiness|first=Jeremy|last=Kidwell|publisher=The Gospel Coalition|journal=Themelios|volume=36|issue=3}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/636039/summary|title=God and the Art of Happiness by Ellen T. Charry (review)|first=Michael|last=Dauphinais|journal=The Thomist: A Speculative Quarterly Review|volume=78|number=4|date=2018|pages=638–642|doi=10.1353/tho.2014.0049|s2cid=171945278|url-access=subscription}}</ref>
Combining her own personal experience with Judaism and Christianity with her philosophical thinking, she has written about the need for both Jews and Christians to overcome their differences and "help each other straighten out their own tradition."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.abc.net.au/religion/turning-the-jewish-christian-history-of-mutual-contempt-to-frie/11004358|title=Ending the longest war: Can the Jewish-Christian history of mutual contempt be turned to friendship?|first=Ellen|last=Charry|publisher=ABC Religion and Ethics|date=April 15, 2019|access-date=April 14, 2021}}</ref>
==Personal life== Charry was married to Dana Charry, a psychiatrist, who died of lung cancer in 2003.<ref name=lament>{{cite book|first=Ellen T.|last=Charry|chapter=May We Trust God and (Still) Lament? Can We Lament and (Still) Trust God?|pages=95–108|title=Lament:Reclaiming Practices in Pulpit, Pew, and Public Square|editor1=Patrick D. Miller|editor2=Sally A. Brown|year=2005|publisher=Westminster John Knox Press |isbn=9780664227500|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iEMUFxAcORwC}}</ref> Her chapter on lament in the book ''Lament: Reclaiming Practices in Pulpit, Pew, and Public Square'' shares letters they wrote to family and friends during his illness.<ref name=lament/><ref name=path>{{cite web|url=https://www.nj.com/mercer/2010/12/princeton_author_takes_on_spir.html|title=Princeton author takes on spiritual path from grief to happiness|date=April 1, 2019|access-date=April 14, 2021|first=Anne|last=Levin|publisher=NJ.com}}</ref> She has two daughters and two granddaughters.<ref name=path/> Charry comes from a Jewish background<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/03/14/archives/a-share-for-girls-in-jewish-birthright.html|title=A Share For Girls In Jewish Birthright|work=The New York Times|date=March 14, 1977|access-date=April 14, 2021|first=Nadine|last=Broznan}}</ref> and became an Episcopalian Christian while studying religion.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/1999/february8/9t2046.html|work=Christianity Today|title=Ellen Charry: Reclaiming spiritual nurture|date=February 8, 1999|access-date=April 14, 2021|first=Tim|last=Stafford}}</ref> Her PhD supervisor, Paul van Buren, was her baptismal sponsor.<ref name=tribute>{{cite web|url=https://hcommons.org/deposits/objects/hc:14202/datastreams/CONTENT/content|title=The Sacraments are for Life:A Tribute to Ellen T. Charry|first=W. Travis|last=McMaken|publisher=Princeton Theological Seminary|date=November 3, 2008|access-date=April 14, 2021}}</ref>
==Selected publications== ===Books=== * {{cite book|year=1998|first1=Jürgen|last1=Moltmann|author-link1=Jürgen Moltmann|first2=Nicholas|last2=Wolterstorff|author-link2=Nicholas Wolterstorff|first3=Ellen T.|last3=Charry|title=A Passion for God's Reign: Theology, Christian Learning and the Christian Self|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nXZUvxLe6e0C|publisher=Eerdmans|isbn=9780802844941}} * {{cite book|year=1999|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E9QF0Die3WwC|title=By the Renewing of Your Minds: The Pastoral Function of Christian Doctrine|first=Ellen T.|last=Charry|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn = 9780195134865}} * {{cite book|year=2000|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YdR1NGGFQi8C|first=Ellen T.|last=Charry|title=Inquiring After God: Classic and Contemporary Readings|publisher=Wiley|isbn=9780631205449}} * {{cite book|first=Ellen T.|last=Charry|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bVXUSAAACAAJ|title=God and the Art of Happiness|year=2010|publisher=Eerdmans|isbn=9780802860323}} * {{cite book|first=Ellen T.|last=Charry|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3euiCgAAQBAJ|series=Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible|date=2015|title=Psalms 1-50: Sighs and Songs of Israel|publisher=Brazos Press|isbn=9781493400058}}
===Articles and chapters=== * {{cite book|first=Ellen T.|last=Charry|chapter=May We Trust God and (Still) Lament? Can We Lament and (Still) Trust God?|pages=95–108|title=Lament:Reclaiming Practices in Pulpit, Pew, and Public Square|editor1=Patrick D. Miller|editor2=Sally A. Brown|year=2005|publisher=Westminster John Knox Press |isbn=9780664227500|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iEMUFxAcORwC}} * {{cite book|year=2005|chapter=Sacramental Ecclesiology|title=The Community of the Word:Toward an Evangelical Ecclesiology|editor1=Mark Husbands|editor2=Daniel J. Treier|first=Ellen T.|last=Charry|publisher=InterVarsity Press|pages=213–214}} * {{cite book|year=2008|first=Ellen T.|last=Charry|chapter=Experiencing Salvation Liturgically|title=Theology in Service of the Church:Essays in Honor of Joseph D. Small|publisher=Geneva Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=frudEktLPaMC|pages=57–67|isbn=9780664502973}} * {{cite journal|year=2016|title=Christian theology and positive psychology: An exchange of gifts|first2=Russell D.|last2=Kosits|first1=Ellen T.|last1=Charry|journal=The Journal of Positive Psychology|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2016.1228010|volume=12|issue=5|pages=468–479|doi=10.1080/17439760.2016.1228010|s2cid=152127114|url-access=subscription}} * {{cite book|first=Ellen T.|last=Charry|chapter=Theology and Psychology in Conversation|pages=35–38|title=Future Directions in Well-Being: Education, Organizations and Policy|year=2017|publisher=Springer|isbn=9783319568898|editor1=Matthew A. White|editor2=Gavin R. Slemp|editor3=A. Simon Murray|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DXkoDwAAQBAJ}}
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Princeton Theological Seminary}} {{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Charry, Ellen}} Category:Living people Category:1947 births Category:Writers from Philadelphia Category:Barnard College alumni Category:American Episcopal theologians Category:Temple University alumni Category:Yale Divinity School alumni Category:Converts to Anglicanism from Judaism Category:Southern Methodist University faculty Category:Princeton Theological Seminary faculty