{{Short description|British academic}} {{For|the investment banker|Mary C. Tanner}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Dame Mary Tanner | honorific_suffix = {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|DBE}} | image = Dame Mary Tanner (4322269298).jpg | alt = <!-- descriptive text for use by speech synthesis (text-to-speech) software --> | caption = Tanner in 2010 | birth_name = Mary Elizabeth Fussell | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=y|23 July 1938}} | birth_place = | death_date = <!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} (DEATH date then BIRTH date) --> | death_place = | other_names = | occupation = | years_active = | known_for = | notable_works = | alma_mater = University of Birmingham }} '''Dame Mary Elizabeth Tanner''', {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|DBE}} (née '''Fussell'''; born 23 July 1938) is a British academic specialising in the Old Testament. She was European President of the World Council of Churches (WCC) from 2006 to 2013 and has been a member of the WCC Faith and Order Commission since 1974, serving as its moderator from 1991 to 1998.<ref name="Who's Who 2015" />
==Early life== Tanner was born on 23 July 1938 to Harold and Marjorie (née Teucher) Fussell. Her parents were Anglican converts. Her mother was originally a Roman Catholic and her father was originally a Methodist.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://episcopalchurch.org/library/article/british-queen-honors-anglican-theologian-and-ecumenical-leader-mary-tanner|title=British queen honors Anglican theologian and ecumenical leader Mary Tanner|date=January 8, 2008|website=Episcopal Church}}</ref> She was educated at Colston's Girls' School, then an all-girls private school in Bristol.<ref name="Who's Who 2015">{{cite web|title=Tanner, Dame Mary (Elizabeth)|url=http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whoswho/U36997|website=Who's Who 2015|publisher=Oxford University Press|accessdate=23 July 2015|date=November 2014}}</ref>
She studied theology at the University of Birmingham and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (BA Hons) degree.<ref name="Who's Who 2015" /><ref name="Hull DD">{{cite web|title=Dame Mary Tanner – Doctor of Divinity, honoris causa|url=http://www2.hull.ac.uk/news-and-events/news-archive/2010-news-archive/february/graduandsbiographies.aspx|website=Biographies of the honorary graduands|publisher=University of Hull|accessdate=24 July 2015|date=27 January 2015}}</ref>
==Career== From 1960 to 1967, Tanner was a lecturer in the Old Testament and Hebrew at the University of Hull. From 1972 to 1975, she was a lecturer in the Old Testament and Hebrew at the University of Bristol. From 1978 to 1982, she was a lecturer in the Old Testament at Westcott House, an Anglican theological college in Cambridge. In 1988 and in 1998, she was a visiting professor at the General Theological Seminary, an Episcopal theological college in New York City, United States. In 2000, she was a visiting professor at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, a Pontifical university in Rome, Italy.<ref name="Who's Who 2015" />
Tanner has been involved in various ecumenical conversations on behalf of the Church of England, including the Anglican-Roman Catholic conversations. From 1982 to 1998 she was active in the Church of England body which ultimately became the Council for Christian Unity.<ref>[http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/press_corner/tanner-bio-e.html Mary Tanner profile], wcc-coe.org; accessed 17 March 2014.</ref>
==Honours== In the 2008 New Year Honours, she was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) "for services to the worldwide Anglican Communion".<ref name="LG 29 December 2007">{{London Gazette |issue=58557 |date=29 December 2007 |pages=6–7 |supp=y }}</ref>
In January 2010, she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity (DD) degree by the University of Hull.<ref name="Hull DD" />
In 1998, she was the recipient of a ''Festschrift'' titled "''Community, Unity, Communion: Essays in Honour of Mary Tanner''" and edited by Colin Podmore.<ref>Colin Podmore, ed. (1998). ''Community, Unity, Communion: Essays in Honour of Mary Tanner''. London: Church House Publishing. {{ISBN|978-0-7151-5756-5}}.</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/press_corner/tanner-bio-e.html Biodata] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20080228160157/http://www.honours.gov.uk/upload/assets/www.honours.gov.uk/honours2008/2008uk.pdf 2008 New Years Honours List]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Tanner, Mary}} Category:British Anglicans Category:Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire Category:Living people Category:Place of birth missing (living people) Category:1938 births Category:People educated at Montpelier High School, Bristol Category:Alumni of the University of Birmingham Category:Academics of the University of Hull Category:Academics of the University of Bristol Category:Staff of Westcott House, Cambridge Category:Old Testament scholars Category:British women biblical scholars Category:20th-century British biblical scholars Category:21st-century British biblical scholars