Rev. Dr. Keith Russell on State of Belief Radio Show
Rev. Dr. Keith Russell, professor of Ministry Studies and director of the Doctor of Ministry Program at New York Theological Seminary, spoke on the radio talk show State of Belief where he spoke on the life and legacy of social activist minister George "Bill" Webber, former president of New York Theological Seminary, who passed away last week at age 90. Click on the link to hear: http://stateofbelief.com/show-archive/245-july-17-18-2010
The Passing of Dr. George W. Webber, July 10, 2010
George "Bill" Webber, an internationally known leader in theological education and urban ministry, died on July 10 at his home in Maplewood, NJ. He was born on May 2, 1920, in Des Moines, Iowa, the first of two sons born to George Webber and Edith Dunham Webber. He grew up in Des Moines where his father was Director of the YMCA and his mother had a weekly radio show reviewing books. He graduated from Roosevelt High School and attended Harvard College on a basketball scholarship. After graduating magna cum laude in 1942, he joined the Navy and served during World War II as a gunnery officer on the USS Breeman, a Destroyer Escort in the North Atlantic.
On August 27, 1943, he married his college sweetheart, Helen "Dibby" Barton, who served in the WAVES. After the war, Bill entered Union Theological Seminary from which he received a Bachelor of Divinity Degree in 1948. Dr. Webber received his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1963. In 1948, Bill was appointed Dean of Students by Union President Henry Pitney Van Dusen. While still Dean, he and two other Seminary graduates, Don Benedict and Archie Hargraves, founded the East Harlem Protestant Parish in 1948. The Webbers moved their family to the public housing projects of East Harlem in 1956, where they lived until 2003.
Through its storefront ministries, the Parish engaged in programs of social justice, the struggle for civil rights, new housing, tutoring, drug treatment and public education and Bible Study which influenced a generation of college and seminary students from many countries and became a model for the renewal of inner city ministry nationwide. Out of that experience he wrote three books: God's Colony in Man's World, The Congregation in Mission, and Today's Church. In the late sixties, Bill founded Metropolitan Urban Service Training (MUST) and also became a founding member of Clergy and Laity. Concerned About Vietnam (CALCAV), later known as Clergy and Laity Concerned, and Witness for Peace.
He traveled to Vietnam and was arrested several times for his opposition to the Vietnam War. In 1969, Dr. Webber became the President of the Biblical Seminary in New York, a post he held until 1983. Under his leadership the name was changed to New York Theological Seminary and its mission became one of dynamic urban transformation. The seminary became a leader in providing theological training to a broad range of urban pastors from storefronts to cathedrals, with a student body of African American, Latino, Korean, and European American pastors and laypersons. The story of that experience is told in Dr. Webber's fourth book, Led by the Spirit: The Story of New York Theological Seminary.
Under his leadership, the Seminary established the Master of Professional Studies program to provide theological education to inmates at the Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining, NY. Inmates from across the state vie for admission to the program which Dr. Webber directed and taught in until 2000.
The program has graduated over 200 men, many of whom are social workers, pastors, prison reform advocates and educators. Few have ever returned to prison. Of those serving life sentences, many have devoted their lives to teaching and ministry in prison. When state funding for College programs ended, Dr. Webber organized Rising Hope, a program which provides college level education to inmates who have received their GED. He often received, and replied to, 30 or 40 letters from inmates each week.
Bill and Helen were married for sixty-seven years and lived for most of their adult years in East Harlem. Their summers since 1951 were spent at their beloved cabin on the shore of Frenchman Bay in Sorrento, Maine.
Bill is survived by his wife, Helen, five children, John, Tom, Peggy, Andrew, and Katy, eleven grandchildren, and three great grandchildren.
In 2004, New York Theological Seminary established the George W. Webber Chair in Urban Ministry in his honor. On May 19, 2000, he received the Union Medal from Union Theological Seminary. The award included these words: "George Webber, your passion for faith-based justice has helped shape the perspective of several generations of Protestant clergy engaged in urban ministry. Your imaginative grasp of the problems that confront an embattled urban church in an expanding and often violent city has given new meaning to the concept of Christian mission.”
Memorial services are tentatively planned for Sorrento, Maine in August and in New YorkCity in October.
A message on behalf of President Dale T. Irvin and Dr. Eleanor Moody-Shepherd, Vice President for Academic Affairs; Academic Dean
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Our beloved colleague, the Rev. Dr. Eugenia Lee Hancock, Professor of Urban Studies and Spirituality and Director of the Center for the Study and Practice of Urban Religion (CSPUR) at the Seminary, died at home on Tuesday, June 1, 2010. Lee, as she was affectionately known, was an extraordinary spiritual presence in our midst. Her disarming smile and intense eyes communicated a genuine affection and sense of engagement with everyone she encountered.
Lee was relentless in her pursuit of academic excellence in the classroom. Students who worked with her during the years she served first as an adjunct professor then as a member of the Seminary’s core faculty will testify to that. But she also had a pastor’s heart. Her passion expressed itself in a real desire to integrate intellect and spirit in constructive, creative ways. She applied these gifts masterfully in a number of positions of community and institutional leadership beyond the classroom, including on the Seminary’s Board of Trustees where she served prior to joining the faculty.
Lee was born in Bluefield, West Virginia, and graduated from Mary Baldwin College before going on to Union Theological Seminary in New York where she earned her M. Div. degree, then to Drew University where she earned her Ph.D. While at Drew she served as the program officer for the Newark Project, a research program designed to enable students and community leaders to gain a better understanding of the role of religion in contemporary urban life. Her dissertation, which was completed in the area of Religion and Society, was an ethnographic study of those “infected and affected” by HIV/AIDS in Newark, NJ.
After graduating from Drew, Lee served as the Dean of Auburn Theological Seminary and the Director of Auburn’s Center for Church Life and the Center for Multifaith Education. One of the projects she developed at Auburn was the New York Sabbatical Institute, which brought together more than 60 working pastors from diverse theological and cultural traditions over a two-year period for work and play around pastoral excellence and self-care.
An ordained member of the Presbyterian Church USA, Lee previously served as a minister at Judson Memorial Church and Central Presbyterian Church in New York, as Associate Executive Presbyter for the Presbytery of the City of New York, and as Seminary Pastor at Union. She lectured widely and was well-known for her inspirational preaching. Lee was the editor of The Book of Women’s Sermons: Hearing God in Each Other's Voices (Riverhead Books, 2000). Her love for the city, for religious communities, and for humanity will continue to inspire us long into the future.
A private funeral service for family members has been planned. Further information on a public memorial service as well as suggested ways for contributions to be made in her honor will be announced in the days ahead.
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Our beloved colleague, the Rev. Dr. Eugenia Lee Hancock, Professor of Urban Studies and Spirituality and Director of the Center for the Study and Practice of Urban Religion (CSPUR) at the Seminary, died at home on Tuesday, June 1, 2010. Lee, as she was affectionately known, was an extraordinary spiritual presence in our midst. Her disarming smile and intense eyes communicated a genuine affection and sense of engagement with everyone she encountered.
