Ivone Gebara

Ivone Gebara was born in São Paulo on December 9, 1944 to a family of Syrian-Lebanese descent. After receiving a degree in philosophy, she joined the Augustinian Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady in 1967 at the age of 22. She has two doctorates, one earned from the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo in philosophy in 1975 and another from the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium in religious sciences in 1998.[1][5]

Gebara taught at the Instituto Teológico do Recife (ITER) for almost 17 years alongside founder Hélder Câmara. Linked to liberation theology, the institution existed from 1968 until it was closed by order of the Vatican in 1989.[6][7] Since then she has devoted her time to writing and delivering courses and lectures around the world, on the foundations of religious discourse.

Since 1973 Gebara has lived in the Northeast Region. She currently lives in a poor neighborhood of Camaragibe in the Recife metropolitan area, 25 km from Recife.

In the 1990s, Gebara was tried and convicted by the Vatican for criticizing the moral teaching of the Church, especially due to comments she made in an interview printed in Veja magazine in regard to abortion.[2][8] She was ordered to two years of forced silence. During that time, she obtained her second doctorate, in Religious Studies from the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium. Gebara wrote a book addressing evil, Rompendo o silêncio: uma fenomenologia feminista do mal.[4][9] She is a leader in the Latin American ecofeminist movement, writing, teaching, and organizing, including work with the Con-spirando collective in Santiago, Chile. Her ecofeminist theology focuses on the concerns and needs of the poor.[10]

Gebara is the author of over thirty books and numerous articles published in Portuguese, Spanish, French, English and German.[2][11] Her English works are:

• Gebara, Ivone (1999). Longing for Running Water: Ecofeminism and Liberation. Fortress Press. ISBN 978-1-4514-0990-1.
• Gebara, Ivone (2002). Out of the Depths: Women's Experience of Evil and Salvation. Fortress Press. ISBN 978-1-4514-0991-8.
• Gebara, Ivone (2004). Mary, Mother of God, Mother of the Poor. Wipf & Stock Publishers. ISBN 978-1-59244-975-0.

Her major works in other languages include:

• Trindade: palavra sobre coisas velhas e novas. Uma perspectiva ecofeminista (1994)
• Teologia ecofeminista. Ensaio para repensar o Conhecimento e a Religião (1997)
• Rompendo o silêncio. Uma fenomenologia feminista do Mal (2000)
• A Mobilidade da Senzala Feminina. Mulheres Nordestinas, Vida Melhor e Feminismo (2000)
• La sed de sentido. Búsquedas ecofeministas en prosa poética (2002)
• As águas do meu poço. Reflexões sobre experiências de liberdade (2005)
• O que é Teologia (2006)
• O que é Teologia Feminista (2007)
• O que é Cristianismo (2008)
• Compartilhar os pães e os peixes. O cristianismo, a teologia e teologia feminista (2008)
• Vulnerabilidade, Justiça e e Feminismos - Antologia de Textos (2010)
• Terra - Eco Sagrado (Teologia da Libertação e Educação Popular) (with Arno Kayser)