Martin E. Marty, a distinguished church historian and scholar of American religion, a devoted teacher, and a friend and mentor to many, died Feb. 25 in Minneapolis. He was 97.
Considered to be one of the most influential interpreters of American religion, Marty is known for the study of public theology, a term he coined in 1974 to describe the critical engagement of religious and cultural issues that can foster the common good. His study and interpretation of Protestantism and fundamentalism continue to shape and influence the view of modern American religion.
“Martin Marty has been called a giant in North American Lutheranism, a man of towering intellect,” said Elizabeth Eaton, ELCA presiding bishop. “That is true, but no one would call him physically imposing. In person he was whimsical and self-deprecating. And that was his strength. Whether lecturing in great academic institutions or marching in Selma for civil rights, this was the Martin Marty who showed up.”
Ordained in 1952, Marty received his Master of Divinity from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. He was granted a Master of Sacred Theology degree from Chicago Lutheran Theological Seminary in Maywood, Ill., in 1954, and a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Chicago in 1956.
He served as a pastor of Grace Lutheran Church and School in River Forest, Ill. (1952-1956), and as pastor of Lutheran Church of the Holy Spirit, which he founded in Elk Grove Village, Ill. (1956-1963). He then taught church history and modern Christianity in the Divinity School of the University of Chicago, eventually holding an endowed chair, the Fairfax M. Cone Distinguished Service professorship.
At the divinity school, Marty founded the Institute for the Advanced Study of Religion in 1979. The center explores topics such as threats to American religious freedom, the ethics of the death penalty, and the history of Black Protestantism in the United States. When Marty retired from the divinity school in 1998, the institute was renamed the Martin Marty Center.
Marty was the author of 60 books, including Righteous Empire: The Protestant Experience in America, which won the 1972 National Book Award in Philosophy and Religion, and Modern American Religion, a three-volume study of the development of American religious life from the late 19th century. In addition to hundreds of scholarly articles and essays, he was a columnist and editor at the Christian Century for 50 years and authored the biweekly newsletter Context for 41 years. He also wrote a weekly column for Sightings, a digital magazine distributed by the Martin Marty Center.
In addition to his other achievements, he became the founding president and later scholar-in-residence of the Park Ridge Center for the Study of Health, Faith, and Ethics; co-directed the Fundamentalism Project, an American Academy of Arts and Sciences-sponsored survey of world fundamentalism that resulted in five encyclopedic volumes on the subject (1987-1995); and directed the Public Religion Project, a program underwritten by the Pew Charitable Trust to delineate the importance of faith in a pluralistic society.
Marty received numerous awards and honors, including the Medal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1995) and the National Medal for the Humanities (1997). He served on two presidential commissions, as president of multiple scholarly societies and on numerous boards, including as a regent, board chair and interim president of St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minn.
But it was teaching that was at the heart of his distinguished career. Speaking to the University of Chicago Magazine in 1998 about how he’d like to be remembered, Marty said: “That I was a good teacher. That’s been my great joy, where I’ve always gotten the most pleasure. … I take more pleasure in the fact that there are more than 100 people I was thesis adviser to, more pleasure in a new book by [former students] than one of my own.”
A memorial service will be held March 29 at Central Lutheran Church, Minneapolis, with a livestream available at centralmpls.org.
