My friend and academic colleague Pamela Sue Anderson, who has died of cancer aged 61, was professor of modern European philosophy of religion at Oxford University, where she had also been a fellow of Regent’s Park College since 2001.

In the philosophy of religion in general, and in feminist philosophy of religion in particular, Pamela was an international figure whose work broke important new ground. In her early work she was concerned with the detection and correction of gender biases, both in the philosophy of religion and in religion itself, and her most original contribution was to argue that these had as much to do with justice as they did with truth.

In her later work she explored the idea of vulnerability, especially the vulnerability that is manifest in profoundly transformative experiences such as critical illness or bereavement, and she argued for a positive reappraisal of such vulnerability – so that it could come to be seen as what she called “a provocation for enhancing life”. Though her work ranged widely, it was always concerned at a fundamental level with the nature of our humanity.

Among her many published works were two influential books, A Feminist Philosophy of Religion (1997) and Revisioning Gender in Philosophy of Religion (2012). She also co-authored, with Jordan Bell, Kant and Theology (2010), and at the time of her death was working on a book on the French philosopher Michèle Le Dœuff, which was to have included translations of some of Le Dœuff’s work.

Pamela was born in Minnesota to Yvonne, a homemaker, and Doug, professor of educational psychology at the University of Minnesota. In 1979, after graduating from St Olaf College in Minnesota, Pamela moved to Britain to pursue a doctorate at Mansfield College, Oxford, where she focused on the French philosopher Paul Ricœur. At the time it was unusual for a philosopher at Oxford to work on a continental figure such as Ricœur, but it was typical of Pamela to buck the trend. A version of her doctoral thesis was eventually published as her first book, Ricœur and Kant (1993).

After Oxford she worked for a year at the University of Delaware in the US, and then for several years at the University of Sunderland in Britain, becoming a reader in philosophy there before finally returning to Oxford, where her heart was. In 2009 she received an honorary doctorate from Lund University in Sweden, in recognition of her pioneering work in feminist philosophy of religion.

Pamela was a conscientious and much-loved teacher. She was particularly good at supporting and championing younger women, partly through her work with the UK Society for Women in Philosophy.

She was predeceased by her long-term partner, Paul Hunt. She is survived by her parents, her brother, Larin, and her two sisters, Heidi and Laurie.