Ronald F. Thiemann, Bussey Professor of Theology and former dean of Harvard Divinity School (HDS), passed away Thursday at the age of 66.
Funeral services will be held at the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, 60 Forest Park Road, Woburn, Wednesday Dec. 5 at 10 am. A memorial service will be held at Harvard University early in 2013, said the university in a release.
Thiemann was a noted scholar, theologian, teacher and administrator. He was a heading voice in discussions about contemporary theology and the role of religion in American public life.
In 2006, he was named the Bussey Professorship - Harvard's oldest endowed chair in theology - he was professor of theology and professor of religion and society at HDS.
Thiemann was appointed Dean and John Lord O'Brian Professor of Divinity at Harvard Divinity School in 1986 and relinquished the office of Dean in 1999 to devote his time fully to teaching, lecturing and writing.
The college invoked a note on passing of Thiemann, which he penned on the School's 175th anniversary in 1992.
The note by Thiemann read: "The challenges for us in the coming decades will include preparing ministers, theologians, scholars, teachers, and religious and social service leaders to reflect theologically on the reality of a religiously plural world; advancing women's studies in religions; revitalizing interdisciplinary and interprofessional conversation; building a truly diverse faculty and student body; and taking the fervent intentions expressed at the founding of the School that its program of study be genuinely nonsectarian and open to all forms of critical inquiry, and truly making those purposes our own."
"Under his direction, the Divinity School received increasing recognition for its special interdisciplinary programs and curricular reforms aimed at reconnecting theological education to issues of public significance," the university said in a release.
"He was instrumental in re-establishing Religion and Society as a doctoral field of study at HDS," it added.
In 1992, Thiemann announced the formation at HDS of the Center for the Study of Values in Public Life, a teaching and research center founded to examine the values that shape public policies and debates.
Under his guidance, the Center's activities expanded to cover three overlapping areas: civil society and the renewal of public life; the environment; and international relations, noted the university.
His career as teacher:
In 1975, began his teaching career, as an acting instructor in the Department of Religious Studies at Yale University. Later he joined Harvard Divinity School in 1986.
Before that Thiemann served for ten years on the faculty of Haverford College, where he chaired the religion department from 1978 through 1984 and served as acting provost and acting president.
In 1982, he received the Christian and Mary Lindback Foundation Award for Distinguished Teaching.
His family:
Thiemann, a resident of Concord, Massachusetts, is survived by his wife, Beth A. Thiemann; his two daughters, Sarah Thiemann Connolly and Laura Thiemann Scales and grandchildren Kate, William, Anna, and Nathan.
