Jane Dempsey Douglass

Last updated

Jane Dempsey Douglass
Born
E. Jane Dempsey

(1933-03-22) March 22, 1933 (age 90)
Wilmington, Delaware, US
Other namesElizabeth Jane Dempsey Douglass
TitlePresident of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (1990–1997)
Spouse
Gordon K. Douglass
​
(died 2017)​
Academic background
Alma mater
Thesis The Doctrine of Justification in the Preaching of John Geiler of Keiserberg  (1963)
Sub-discipline
School or tradition
Institutions
Doctoral students Haruko Nawata Ward [1]
Notable students Paul C. H. Lim [2]

E. Jane Dempsey Douglass (born 1933) is an American Presbyterian theologian and ecclesiastical historian. She was a professor at Claremont Graduate School before becoming the Hazel Thompson McCord Professor of Historical Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary. Douglass served as the President of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches from 1990 to 1997, making her the first woman to head a worldwide communion of churches.

Contents

Early life and education

Born in Wilmington, Delaware, United States, on March 22, 1933, [3] [4] Douglass is a graduate of Syracuse University (1954), Radcliffe College, and Harvard University. [5] [6] She received her Doctor of Philosophy degree from Harvard in 1963 following the submission of her thesis The Doctrine of Justification in the Preaching of John Geiler of Keiserberg . [7] She was married to the economist Gordon K. Douglass until his death in 2017. [8]

Academic and ecclesiastical career

Douglass was professor of church history at the Claremont School of Theology, where she was the first female faculty member, and professor of religion at Claremont Graduate School. [9] [10] She went on to serve as the Hazel Thompson McCord Professor of Historical Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary from 1985 until her retirement in 1998. [11] [12] In 1983, Douglass was the first female President of the American Society of Church History. [13] In the same year, she delivered the Warfield Lectures at Princeton Theological Seminary in a series titled Christian Freedom in Calvin's Theology, which led to the publication of her book Women, Freedom, and Calvin in 1985. [14]

A Christian feminist, [15] Douglass challenged the dominant interpretation of John Calvin's view of the role of women, identifying certain aspects of his thought as protofeminist. [16] Calvin regards the apostle Paul's advice that women should remain silent in church as being adiaphoral, which Douglass argues leaves him open to the possibility of a broader role for women in the church in the future, [16] [17] writing: "Though Calvin sees strong biblical guidance for women's subordinate role in the public life of church and society, and though he finds it appropriate for his own society that women should be subordinate, he holds on principle that the order in which women are subordinate is one determined by human law, ecclesiastical and political [rather than divine law]. Such order can legitimately be adapted to changing circumstances." [18]

A ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church (USA), [19] Douglass helped draft A Brief Statement of Faith, which is part of the church's Book of Confessions . [12] [20] She co-chaired the third round of the Lutheran–Reformed dialogue in North America from 1981 to 1983. [12] Douglass served as the President of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches from 1990 to 1997, [21] making her the first woman to head a worldwide communion of churches. [22] [23]

Douglass has received honorary doctorates from Franklin and Marshall College, the University of St. Andrews, and the University of Geneva. [12] She is commemorated by the American Society of Church History with the Jane Dempsey Douglass Prize, awarded annually to the author of the year's "best unpublished essay on some aspect of the role of women in the history of Christianity". [24]

Bibliography

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Westminster Theological Seminary</span> U.S. Presbyterian seminary

Westminster Theological Seminary (WTS) is a Protestant theological seminary in the Reformed theological tradition in Glenside, Pennsylvania. It was founded by members of the faculty of Princeton Theological Seminary in 1929 after Princeton chose to take a liberal direction during the Fundamentalist–Modernist controversy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">B. B. Warfield</span> American theologian (1851–1921)

Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield was an American professor of Reformed theology at Princeton Seminary from 1887 to 1921. He served as the last principal of the Princeton Theological Seminary from 1886 to 1902. After the death of Warfield in office, Francis Landey Patton took over the functions of the office as the first president of seminary. Some conservative Presbyterians consider him to be the last of the great Princeton theologians before the split in 1929 that formed Westminster Theological Seminary and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">J. Gresham Machen</span> American theologian (1881–1937)

John Gresham Machen was an American Presbyterian New Testament scholar and educator in the early 20th century. He was the Professor of New Testament at Princeton Seminary between 1906 and 1929, and led a revolt against modernist theology at Princeton and formed Westminster Theological Seminary as a more orthodox alternative. As the Northern Presbyterian Church continued to reject conservative attempts to enforce faithfulness to the Westminster Confession, Machen led a small group of conservatives out of the church to form the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. When the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (PCUSA) rejected his arguments during the mid-1920s and decided to reorganize Princeton Seminary to create a liberal school, Machen took the lead in founding Westminster Seminary in Philadelphia (1929) where he taught New Testament until his death. His continued opposition during the 1930s to liberalism in his denomination's foreign missions agencies led to the creation of a new organization, the Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions (1933). The trial, conviction and suspension from the ministry of Independent Board members, including Machen, in 1935 and 1936 provided the rationale for the formation in 1936 of the OPC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Murray (theologian)</span> Scottish-born theologian and academic

John Murray was a Scottish-born Calvinist theologian who taught at Princeton Seminary and then left to help found Westminster Theological Seminary, where he taught for many years. He was ordained in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church in 1937.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Princeton Theological Seminary</span> Private school of theology in Princeton, New Jersey, US

Princeton Theological Seminary (PTSem), officially The Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church, is a private school of theology in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1812 under the auspices of Archibald Alexander, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA), and the College of New Jersey, it is the second-oldest seminary in the United States. It is also the largest of ten seminaries associated with the Presbyterian Church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Presbyterian Church in the United States of America</span> Historical Presbyterian organization

The Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (PCUSA) was a Presbyterian denomination existing from 1789 to 1958. In that year, the PCUSA merged with the United Presbyterian Church of North America. The new church was named the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. It was a predecessor to the contemporary Presbyterian Church (USA).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Confession of 1967</span>

The Confession of 1967 is a confession of faith of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), abbreviated PC (USA). It was written as a modern statement of the faith for the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (UPCUSA), the "northern church", to supplement the Westminster Confession and the other statements of faith in its then new Book of Confessions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Princeton theology</span> Tradition at Princeton Theological Seminary (1812–1920s)

The Princeton theology was a tradition of conservative Reformed and Presbyterian theology at Princeton Theological Seminary lasting from the founding of that institution in 1812 until the 1920s, after which, due to the increasing influence of theological liberalism at the school, the last Princeton theologians left to found Westminster Theological Seminary. The appellation has special reference to certain theologians, from Archibald Alexander to B. B. Warfield, and their particular blend of teaching, which together with its Old School Presbyterian Calvinist orthodoxy sought to express a warm evangelicalism and a high standard of scholarship. W. Andrew Hoffecker argues that they strove to "maintain a balance between the intellectual and affective elements in the Christian faith."

The Warfield Lectures are named in honor of Annie Kinkead Warfield, wife of Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield professor of theology at the Princeton Theological Seminary from 1887 to 1921.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diogenes Allen</span> American philosopher and theologian

Diogenes Allen was an American philosopher and theologian who served as the Stuart Professor of Philosophy at Princeton Theological Seminary. He was an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church, which he served from 1958. He died in Newtown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

Robert Scott Clark is an American Reformed pastor and seminary professor. He is the author of several books, including his most recent work, Recovering the Reformed Confession.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geerhardus Vos</span> Dutch-American Calvinist theologian

Geerhardus Johannes Vos was a Dutch-American Calvinist theologian and one of the most distinguished representatives of the Princeton Theology. He is sometimes called the father of Reformed Biblical theology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fundamentalist–modernist controversy</span> Christian religious issue

The fundamentalist–modernist controversy is a major schism that originated in the 1920s and 1930s within the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. At issue were foundational disputes about the role of Christianity; the authority of the Bible; and the death, resurrection, and atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Two broad factions within Protestantism emerged: fundamentalists, who insisted upon the timeless validity of each doctrine of Christian orthodoxy; and modernists, who advocated a conscious adaptation of the Christian faith in response to the new scientific discoveries and moral pressures of the age. At first, the schism was limited to Reformed churches and centered around the Princeton Theological Seminary, whose fundamentalist faculty members founded Westminster Theological Seminary when Princeton went in a liberal direction. However, it soon spread, affecting nearly every Protestant denomination in the United States. Denominations that were not initially affected, such as the Lutheran churches, eventually were embroiled in the controversy, leading to a schism in the United States.

John Haddon Leith was a Presbyterian theologian and ordained minister who was the Pemberton Professor of Theology at Union Theological Seminary in Virginia from 1959 to 1990. He authored at least 18 books and countless essays on Christianity, over the years moving from a moderate to a strongly critical, conservative perspective on the Presbyterian Church (USA).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Gaffin</span> Chinese-born American theologian and academic

Richard B. Gaffin, Jr. is a Calvinist theologian, Presbyterian minister, and was the Charles Krahe Professor of Biblical and Systematic Theology at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from 1999 to 2008. He became the Professor Emeritus, Biblical and Systematic Theology in 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Serene Jones</span> American Protestant theologian and seminary president (born 1959)

Lynda Serene Jones is the President and Johnston Family Professor for Religion and Democracy at Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York. She was formerly the Titus Street Professor of Theology at Yale Divinity School and chair of gender, woman, and sexuality studies at Yale University.

Nancy J. Duff is an American professor of theology. Duff worked as the Stephen Colwell Associate Professor of Christian Ethics at Princeton Theological Seminary, where she taught from 1990 until 2020. Duff is also a Presbyterian minister in the PCUSA denomination. She is married to United Methodist Minister David Mertz. She has taught courses on the Decalogue, Biomedical ethics, human sexuality, liturgy and the Christian life, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, James Cone, types of Christian ethics, and vocation in Christian tradition and contemporary life.

James Franklin Kay is the Joe R. Engle Professor of Homiletics and Liturgics Emeritus, and Dean and Vice President of Academic Affairs Emeritus at Princeton Theological Seminary.

Samuel Talbot Logan Jr. is an American ecclesiastical historian and Presbyterian minister. He is professor of Church history at Biblical Theological Seminary and former president of Westminster Theological Seminary. He served as president from 1991 to 2005. He is an ordained minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. Logan's tenure was abruptly terminated in 2005 by the seminary's board of trustees due to their perception that he was too inclusive of liberal scholarship.

Beverly Jean Wildung Harrison (1932–2012) was an American Presbyterian feminist theologian whose work was foundational for the field of feminist Christian ethics. She taught at Union Theological Seminary in New York City for 32 years.

References

  1. ↑ Haruko Nawata Ward (2001). Women and the Jesuits in the Christian Century (1549–1650) in Japan (doctoral dissertation). Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton Theological Seminary. p. 1. ProQuest   276243423.
  2. ↑ Paul C. H. Lim (August 2017). "Paul Chang-Ha Lim" (PDF) (curriculum vitae). Vanderbilt University. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 14, 2023.
  3. ↑ "Douglass, E. Jane Dempsey". German National Library. Retrieved January 23, 2023.
  4. ↑ "Douglass, E. Jane Dempsey". Library of Congress. Retrieved January 23, 2023.
  5. ↑ Stephanie English (March 1991). "On Our Short List". Syracuse University Magazine. Vol. 7, no. 3. p. 7. Retrieved January 25, 2023.
  6. ↑ Jane Dempsey Douglass (1990). "What Is 'Reformed Theology'?". The Princeton Seminary Bulletin. New series. Vol. 11, no. 1. p. 3.
  7. ↑ "Women Th.D. and Ph.D. Graduates of Harvard University". Harvard Theological Review. 99 (4): 507. October 2006. doi:10.1017/S0017816006001386. ISSN   1475-4517. S2CID   232179816.
  8. ↑ "Obituary: Gordon Klene Douglass". Claremont Courier. Claremont, California. August 3, 2017. Archived from the original on July 4, 2022.
  9. ↑ Jane Dempsey Douglass (June 1984). "Christian Freedom: What Calvin Learned at the School of Women". Church History. 53 (2): 155–173. doi:10.2307/3165353. ISSN   1755-2613. JSTOR   3165353. S2CID   162078677.
  10. ↑ "Our Story: The History of Claremont School of Theology at Willamette University" (PDF). Claremont School of Theology. 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 17, 2022.
  11. ↑ Robert W. Edgar (September 10, 1991). Introduction of Jane Dempsey Douglass. Convocation of the School of Theology at Claremont (audio recording). 13:56–14:08.
  12. 1 2 3 4 James F. Kay (1999). "A Special Issue Honoring Jane Dempsey Douglass". The Princeton Seminary Bulletin. New series. Vol. 20, no. 1. p. v.
  13. ↑ Paul C. H. Lim (2019). "2019 ASCH President's Report". American Society of Church History. Retrieved July 29, 2020.
  14. ↑ Jane Dempsey Douglass (1985). Women, Freedom, and Calvin. Philadelphia: Westminster Press. p. 7. ISBN   978-0-664-24663-1.
  15. ↑ Julia Pitman (2011). "Feminist Public Theology in the Uniting Church in Australia". International Journal of Public Theology. 5 (2): 156. doi:10.1163/156973211X562741. ISSN   1569-7320.
  16. 1 2 Nico Vorster (2019). The Brightest Mirror of God's Works: John Calvin's Theological Anthropology. Eugene, Oregon: Pickwick Publications. ISBN   978-1-5326-6026-9.
  17. ↑ Jane Dempsey Douglass (June 1984). "Christian Freedom: What Calvin Learned at the School of Women". Church History. 53 (2): 155–156. doi:10.2307/3165353. ISSN   1755-2613. JSTOR   3165353. S2CID   162078677.
  18. ↑ Jane Dempsey Douglass (1985). Women, Freedom, and Calvin. Philadelphia: Westminster Press. p. 81. ISBN   978-0-664-24663-1.
  19. ↑ Sharon Youngs (April 12, 2012). "220th General Assembly Committee Leadership Named". Presbyterian Church (USA). Archived from the original on March 24, 2021.
  20. ↑ David Briggs (June 9, 1991). "Church Declares Sexual Equality an Article of Faith". The Sun. Baltimore, Maryland. p. 1B. ISSN   1930-8965. ProQuest   407145310.
  21. ↑ Stephen Brown and Jerry L. Van Marter (September 6, 1997). "Taiwanese Theologian Elected as President of WARC, Kirkpatrick Elected to Executive Committee". Worldwide Faith News. Presbyterian News Service. Archived from the original on January 14, 2023.
  22. ↑ Peter Steinfels (August 25, 1990). "Religion Notes". The New York Times. p. 1.10. Archived from the original on May 25, 2015.
  23. ↑ Michael D. Schaffer (August 26, 1990). "New Calvinist Leader Faces a Balancing Act". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. B1. ISSN   0885-6613. ProQuest   1835487623.
  24. ↑ "Back Matter". Church History. 58 (3): 432. September 1989. ISSN   1755-2613. JSTOR   3168517.
Religious titles
Preceded by President of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches
1990–1997		Succeeded by
Academic offices
Preceded by Warfield Lecturer
1983		Succeeded by
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.