A smiling woman dressed in a traditional black and white nun's habit, including a veil and wimple, stands in front of a window with colored glass. She also wears glasses and is standing indoors with soft natural light illuminating her face.

Makrina Finlay, OSB

Education

University of Oxford, D.Phil Oxon, 2004

University of Oxford, M.St, 1999

Azusa Pacific University, Bachelor in English and History, 1999

Regular Guest Faculty

Areas of Teaching and Research

Sr.  Makrina Finlay teaches in the area of Monasticism and Spirituality.

Biography

Sr. Dr. Makrina is a Benedictine nun in St. Scholastika’s Abbey, in Dinklage, Germany. She was born and raised in California. After her doctoral studies in Oxford, she entered Dinklage in 2005 where she is responsible for church asylum and is master of studies. She works closely with international human rights’ lawyers and groups that advocate for Yazidis and is involved with work on the ground in Iraq that explore tangible and intangible culture there. She is responsible for educational programs for the Cardinal von Galen Foundation, a foundation which looks at the intersection between religion and politics.

Select Publications

  • “Neither Male nor Female: Gregory of Nyssa and Equality between Men and Women.” in Frauen in kirchlichen Ämtern, edited by Margit Eckholt, pp. 122-133. Freiburg: Herder, 2018.
  • “Katholisch, weiblich, autonom? Erfahrungen einer Benediktinerin.” In Catholic Women Edited by Ute Leimgrüber, pp 49-58. Würzburg: Echter, 2021.
  • “Representing Christ, Liberating Discourses of the Church Fathers.” In Christusrepräsentanz – befreiende Diskurse der Kirchenväter, edited by Margit Eckholt and Johanna Rahner, pp. 177-194. Freiburg: Herder, 2021.
  • “Makrina die Jüngere: Hoffnung auf die Auferstehung: Frau Weisheit als Lehrerin der wahren Philosophie.“ In Denkerinnen und Denker des Glaubens, edited by Herbert Haslinger, pp. 12-34. Freiburg: Herder, 2022.

Research interests

  • Cappadocians
  • Monastic Lives
  • Monastic Rules
  • Christian Spirituality