In Memoriam: Nancy A. Hardesty (1941-2011)

Nancy A. Hardesty, a professor of religion at Clemson University who advocated for greater equality for women in evangelical Christian denominations, has died in Atlanta after a two-year battle with pancreatic cancer. She was 69 years old.

Professor Hardesty was native of Lima, Ohio. In 1963 she graduated from Wheaton College, the Christian college in Illinois. She went on to earn a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University and a Ph.D in the history of Christianity at the University of Chicago.

Dr. Hardesty was the author of several books including Great Women of Faith (1980), Inclusive Language in the Church (1987), Women Called to Witness: Evangelical Feminism (1999), and coauthor of All We’re Meant to Be: A Biblical Approach to Women’s Liberation (1974). She founded the Christian feminist magazine Daughters of Sarah, which discontinued publication in 1995. She was one of the founding members of the Evangelical and Ecumenical Women’s Caucus.