Mercy Amba Oduyoye is an influential African theologian and champion of women’s rights who most recently has served as the director of the Institute of African Women in Religion and Culture at Trinity Theological Seminary in Ghana.

Born in Ghana to a Methodist minister, she went on to receive degrees in education and theology from the University of Ghana and Cambridge University. For years she worked in various roles with the World Council of Churches and the All Africa Conference of Churches. She was the first female president of the Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians and a founder of the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians. She has also served on the faculty of the University of Ibadan as well as visiting faculty appointments to San Francisco Theological Seminary, Selly Oak Colleges, Harvard Divinity School, Union Theological Seminary, Princeton Theological Seminary, and several others.

Along with dozens of articles and chapters focusing on African and feminist theology, she is the author of numerous books, including Beads and Strands: Reflections of an African Woman on Christianity in Africa (2004), Introducing African Women's Theology (2001), Daughters of Anowa: African Women and Patriarchy (1999), and Hearing and Knowing: Theological Reflections on Christianity in Africa (1986).