biographicalinformation

Not the Waltons

Tina was born in Lusaka, Zambia in 1955, where she lived until she was eighteen. Her parents were Nan and Charlie Bell, and she has two younger sisters - Janet and Sharon. She has also lived in Paris, Nairobi and Harare. Since 1988 her home has been in Bristol, but since starting work at Roehampton University in 2002 she has divided her time between London and Bristol.

She is married to Dave and they have four grown up children - Dylan (born 1978), Joanna (born 1980), Daniel (born 1983) and David (born 1986). She had a Presbyterian upbringing, and became a Roman Catholic in 1986.

Tina attended the Dominican Convent School in Lusaka and then worked as a secretary before her children were born. She became a mature student at the University of Bristol in 1991 when her youngest child started school, where she did a degree in Theology and Religious Studies. She went on to do doctoral research on theology and symbolism in the cult of the Virgin Mary and Eve, under the supervision of Professor Ursula King. Her thesis formed the basis of her book God's Mother, Eve's Advocate (Continuum 2002), and she developed these ideas further in New Catholic Feminism: Theology and Theory (Routledge 2006). She is now working on a new research project into natural law, human rights and women's rights.

Before starting a full-time academic post at Roehampton University in 2002, Tina taught at the University of Bristol, at Wesley College, Bristol, and with the Open University. She also works extensively with non-academic groups, running workshops and study days and giving lectures and talks.

She is a theological advisor to Cafod (the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development), and she is currently the President of the Catholic Theological Association of Great Britain. She is a Director of the weekly Catholic journal, The Tablet.

Her interests include reading, cinema, opera and sitting in the jacuzzi after swimming.