Paul van Buren
| Paul van Buren | |
|---|---|
| Born |
1924 Norfolk, Virginia |
| Died |
June 18, 1998 Memorial Hospital, Blue Hill, Maine |
| Occupation |
Theologian Author |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Harvard College, Episcopal Theological School, University of Basel |
| Literary movement | Death of God |
| Spouse | Anne Hagopian (1927–2008) |
Paul Matthews van Buren (April 20, 1924–1998) was a Christian theologian and author. An ordained Episcopal priest, he was a Professor of religion at Temple University, Philadelphia for 22 years. He was a Director [NYT obituary says "Associate" ] of the Center of Ethics and Religious Pluralism at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem.
He died of cancer on June 18, 1998 at age 74.[1]
Early life
Van Buren was born and raised in Norfolk, Virginia. During World War II, he had served in the United States Coast Guard.[1]
Van Buren attended Harvard College, from which he graduated with a bachelor's degree in government, in 1948. He then attended the Episcopal Theological School, and received a bachelor's in sacred theology in 1951. It was after this that he was ordained as an Episcopal priest in the Diocese of Massachusetts. He received a Th.D. in theology in 1957 from the University of Basel in Switzerland studying under Karl Barth.[1] A professor at Temple University, he was considered a leader of the "Death of God" school or movement, although he himself rejected that name for the movement as a "journalistic invention," and considered himself an exponent of "Secular Christianity."[1]
Works
Below is an incomplete list of his works:[1]
- The Secular Meaning of the Gospel: Based on an Analysis of Its Language
- A Theology of the Jewish-Christian Reality (3 Volumes.)
- The Edges of Language:An Essay in the Logic of a Religion
- The Burden of Freedom
- Theological Explorations
- Christ in Our Place: The Substitutionary Character of Calvin's Doctrine of Reconciliation