# Ellen Charry

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{{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](/source/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](/source/Philadelphia)<ref name=path/> and earned a BA in [social work](/source/social_work) at [Barnard College](/source/Barnard_College). She then obtained a [Masters in Social Work](/source/Masters_in_Social_Work) from [Yeshiva University](/source/Yeshiva_University).<ref name=path/> After her children were born, she returned to study, graduating with both an MA and [PhD](/source/PhD) in religion from [Temple University](/source/Temple_University).<ref name=pts/> Her 1987 dissertation, supervised by [Paul van Buren](/source/Paul_van_Buren) (himself a student of [Karl Barth](/source/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](/source/Yale_Divinity_School) with a grant from the [Henry Luce](/source/Henry_Luce) Foundation.<ref name=pts/>

==Career==
Charry was on the faculty of the [Perkins School of Theology](/source/Perkins_School_of_Theology) at [Southern Methodist University](/source/Southern_Methodist_University) from 1992 until 1997.<ref name=pts/> She joined the faculty of [Princeton Theological Seminary](/source/Princeton_Theological_Seminary) in 1997, teaching interfaith, historical and [systematic theology](/source/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](/source/The_Christian_Century)'', ''[Scottish Journal of Theology](/source/Scottish_Journal_of_Theology)'', and ''Pro Ecclesia'' and edited ''[Theology Today](/source/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](/source/Christian_doctrine), moral formation, and the intersections between [theology](/source/theology) and [psychology](/source/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](/source/Judaism) and [Christianity](/source/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](/source/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](/source/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](/source/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](/source/The_New_York_Times)|date=March 14, 1977|access-date=April 14, 2021|first=Nadine|last=Broznan}}</ref> and became an [Episcopalian](/source/Episcopalian) [Christian](/source/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](/source/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](/source/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](/source/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}}
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{{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

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Ellen Charry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellen_Charry) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellen_Charry?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.