Mary Elizabeth Hunt was born in Syracuse, New York, the daughter of Elizabeth Gray Campbell and Francis Charles Hunt. After attending local Syracuse schools, she earned a B.A. in Theology and Philosophy from Marquette University in 1972. She went on to earn the Master of Theology and Philosophy from Harvard Divinity School in 1974, and the Master of Divinity degree from the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley in 1979. She received the Ph.D. from the Graduate Theological Union in 1980; the title of her dissertation was Feminist Liberation Theology: The Development of Method in Construction. Upon completeing her education, Hunt, who is fluent in Spanish, spent two years teaching and working on women's issues and human rights in Buenos Aires, Argentina as a participant in the Frontier Internship in Mission Program. In 1982, she moved to Washington, DC, where she has taught in the Women's Studies Program at Georgetown University; she has also lectured and taught at numerous other institutions worldwide. In 1984 she and her partner, Diann L. Neu, founded the Women's Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual (WATER), and she continues the international work begun in Argentina through WATER's project, "Women Crossing Worlds," an on-going exchange with Latin American women. Hunt has written extensively on feminist theology and related issues, and is the author and editor of several books including Fierce Tenderness: a Feminist Theology of Friendship (1991); Good Sex: Feminist Perspectives from the World's Religions (2001); and A Guide for Women in Religion: Making Your Way from A to Z (2004). She currently lives in Silver Spring, Maryland, with her partner, Diann L. Neu, and their daughter.