Eleonore Stump is the Robert J. Henle Professor of Philosophy at Saint Louis University, where she has taught since 1992. In 2013–15, together with John Greco, she held a $3.3 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation for a project on intellectual humility.

Stump received a B.A. in classical languages from Grinnell College (1969), where she was valedictorian and received the Archibald Prize for scholarship; she has an M.A. in Biblical Studies (New Testament) from Harvard University (1971), and an M.A. and Ph.D in Medieval Studies (Medieval Philosophy) from Cornell University (1975).

Before coming to Saint Louis University, she taught at Oberlin College, Virginia Polytechnic and State University, and Notre Dame. Currently, she also holds secondary or honorary appointments at Wuhan University and Australian Catholic University.

She has published extensively in medieval philosophy, philosophy of religion, and contemporary metaphysics. Her books include her major study Aquinas (Routledge, 2003) and her extensive treatment of the problem of evil, Wandering in Darkness: Narrative and the Problem of Suffering (Oxford, 2010). Her current research project is a book-length study of the atonement, which will be published by Oxford University Press.

Among the named lectureships she has given are the Gifford Lectures (Aberdeen, 2003), the Wilde lectures (Oxford, 2006), and the Stewart lectures (Princeton, 2009). In 2013, the American Catholic Philosophical Association awarded her the Aquinas medal. She will deliver the Stanton Lectures (Cambridge) in 2018.

She has held grants from the Danforth Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Association of University Women, the National Humanities Center, and the Pew Charitable Trusts. In addition, she has received several teaching awards, including, in 2004, the Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching from Baylor University.

She is past president of the Society of Christian Philosophers, the American Catholic Philosophical Association, the Philosophers in Jesuit Education, and the American Philosophical Association, Central Division; and she is currently the president of the Philosophers in Jesuit Education. She is also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.