Elaine Storkey

Elaine Storkey is an English philosopher, theologian and sociologist. She is known for her lecturing, writing, broadcasting and charity work.

Elaine, born in 1944, grew up in Ossett, West Yorkshire and was head girl at Ossett grammar School (now Ossett Academy),

Elaine studied at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth and doing postgraduate work in philosophy at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada and York University, England.

In 1968 she married Alan Storkey, an economist, writer and lecturer.

After research on Ludwig Wittgenstein’s work her first academic post was in philosophy in Oxford University, as a tutor at Manchester College, Oxford.

With her husband she then joined the faculty of the University of Stirling.

They then did a period of lecturing at Calvin College, Michigan and Covenant College in Tennessee, USA.

In 1986 she began broadcasting documentaries, arts, news and current affairs programmes with the BBC. For more than 20 years she was presenter on Radio 4’s Thought for The Day. She currently broadcasts on BBC Radio Ulster Sunday Sequence (See notes on both programme)

Elaine has been a member of the General Synod of the Church of England (1987-2016) (See notes)
Currently she is president of Fulcrum ( See notes On Fulcrum ‘Anglican think tank’)

For many years she spent time teaching and writing with the Open University and presenting radio and television documentaries on gender, race and ethnicity
As a result In 1991 she became the Executive Director of the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity (LICC) (1991-9). ( See notes About LICC)

In 1997 Elaine became president of Tearfund, a Christian relief and development charity and as a result has been monitoring aid, relif and advocacy work in countries of the Global South. ( See notes of ‘Tearfund’)

In 2010, with her husband Alan, they founded Restored an organization committed to advocating against violence to women. (See notes)

She has taught at King’s College, London. She has been a lecturer with the Montgomery Trust since 2001.
She has lectured across the world- Haiti, India, Nepal, Turkey and Ethiopia and is a prominent feminist evangelical. She continues to teach on the Christian Mind course at Oxford University.

Elaine for many years wrote for The Independent, Dagen and the Church Times.
Her writings have brought a biblical perspective to the feminist movement.
Scars Across humanity; Understanding and overcoming Violence Against Women (2015) was widely acclaimed. The 2nd edition in 2019 won the Christianity Today Book of the Year award for Politics and public Life in the USA

Her work has been recognized by Aberystwyth and Cambridge colleges where she has been given fellowships, From Princeton Theological Seminary in 2016 she was awarded the Abraham Kuyper prize for her work as a scholar, writer and journalist.

A faithful servant of Christ