The Reverend

Gary Dorrien
Born
Gary John Dorrien

(1952-03-21) March 21, 1952[1]
NationalityAmerican
Spouse
Brenda L. Biggs
​
​
(m. 1979; died 2000)​
PartnerEris McClure
Ecclesiastical career
ReligionChristianity (Anglican)
ChurchEpiscopal Church
OrdainedDecember 18, 1982 (priest)[1]
Academic background
Alma mater
ThesisTransformations of Modernity[2] (1989)
InfluencesReinhold Niebuhr[3]
Academic work
Discipline
Sub-disciplineChristian ethics
School or traditionTheological liberalism[4]
Institutions
Notable worksThe Making of American Liberal Theology (2001–2006)

Gary John Dorrien (born March 21, 1952)[5] is an American social ethicist and theologian. He is the Reinhold Niebuhr Professor of Social Ethics at Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York and Professor of Religion at Columbia University, both in New York City, and the author of 18 books on ethics, social theory, philosophy, theology, politics, and intellectual history.[6]

Prior to joining the faculty at Union and Columbia in 2005, Dorrien taught at Kalamazoo College in Michigan, where he served as Parfet Distinguished Professor and as Dean of Stetson Chapel.[6]

An Episcopal priest, he has taught as the Paul E. Raither Distinguished Scholar at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, the Horace De Y. Lentz Visiting Professor at Harvard Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the Lowell Visiting Professor at Boston University School of Theology.[7]

Dorrien is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America's Religion and Socialism Commission.[8]

Early life

Dorrien grew up in a working class, semi-rural area of middle-Michigan, Bay County, and in nearby Midland, Michigan. His parents, Jack and Virginia Dorrien, grew up in poor areas of Michigan's Upper Peninsula.[9] Growing up, his family was nominally Catholic.[10] Dorrien played multiple varsity sports at Midland High School and Alma College,[9][11] graduating summa cum laude from Alma in 1974. He earned graduate degrees from Union Theological Seminary, Princeton Theological Seminary, and a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) from Union Graduate School in 1989.[10] He has been awarded honorary doctoral degrees from MacMurray College (DLitt, 2005), Trinity College (DD, 2010), Meadville Lombard Theological School (LHD, 2015), and Virginia Theological Seminary (DD, 2020).[6]

Awards

Dorrien won the American Library Association's Choice Award in 2009 for his book Social Ethics in the Making: Interpreting an American Tradition, which The Christian Century described as "magnificent, sprawling and monumental."[12][13]

He won the Association of American Publishers' PROSE Award in 2012 for his book Kantian Reason and Hegelian Spirit: The Idealistic Logic of Modern Theology, described as "a brilliant and much needed account of the influence of Immanuel Kant and the tradition of post-Kantian idealism on modern theology."[14][15]

He won the Grawemeyer Award in 2017 for his book The New Abolition: W. E. B. Du Bois and the Black Social Gospel, described by theologian William Stacey Johnson as, "a magisterial treatment of a neglected stream of American religious history presented by one of this generation's premiere interpreters of modern religious thought performing at the top of his game."[16][17]

He won the Choice Award in 2018 for his book Breaking White Supremacy: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Black Social Gospel, which Choice described as "intellectual history at its finest...A triumph of careful scholarship, rigorous argument, clear prose, unblinking judgments and groundbreaking conclusions…indispensable."[18][19]

He won the American Library Association's Choice Award for the third time in 2023 for his book American Democratic Socialism: History, Politics, Religion, and Theory, described in Current Affairs as “a masterpiece. American Democratic Socialism will be the definitive history for some time.”[20][21]

Books

  • Logic and Consciousness: The Dialectics of Mind, Hastings Press, 1985.
  • The Democratic Socialist Vision, Rowman & Littlefield, 1986.
  • Reconstructing the Common Good: Theology and the Social Order. Orbis Books (June 1990). ISBN 978-0-88344-659-1
  • The Neoconservative Mind: Politics, Culture, and the War of Ideology, Temple University Press, 1993, 1994.
  • Soul in Society: The Making and Renewal of Social Christianity, Fortress Press, 1995.
  • The Word as True Myth: Interpreting Modern Theology, Westminster John Knox Press, 1997.
  • The Remaking of Evangelical Theology, Westminster John Knox Press, 1998.
  • The Barthian Revolt in Modern Theology: Theology Without Weapons, Westminster John Knox Press, 2000.
  • The Making of American Liberal Theology: Imagining Progressive Religion, 1805 - 1900 (v. 1). Westminster John Knox Press; 1 edition (October 1, 2001). ISBN 978-0-664-22354-0
  • The Making of American Liberal Theology: Idealism, Realism, and Modernity, 1900-1950 (v. 2). Westminster John Knox Press; 1 edition (February 2003). ISBN 978-0-664-22355-7
  • Imperial Designs: Neoconservatism and the New Pax Americana. Routledge (August 31, 2004). ISBN 978-0-415-94980-4
  • The Making of American Liberal Theology: Crisis, Irony, and Postmodernity: 1950-2005 (v. 3). Westminster John Knox Press (November 1, 2006). ISBN 978-0-664-22356-4
  • Social Ethics in the Making: Interpreting an American Tradition. Wiley-Blackwell; illustrated edition (December 22, 2008). ISBN 978-1-4051-8687-2
  • Economy, Difference, Empire: Social Ethics for Social Justice. Columbia University Press; (October 2010). ISBN 978-0-231-14984-6.
  • Kantian Reason and the Hegelian Spirit: The Idealistic Logic of Modern Theology. Wiley-Blackwell (April 17, 2012). ISBN 978-0470673317
  • The Obama Question: A Progressive Perspective. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc, 2012. ISBN 978-1-4422-1537-5
  • The New Abolition: W. E. B. Du Bois and the Black Social Gospel. Yale University Press, 2015. ISBN 978-0-300-20560-2
  • Breaking White Supremacy: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Black Social Gospel. Yale University Press, 2017. ISBN 978-0-300-20561-9
  • Social Democracy in the Making: Political and Religious Roots of European Socialism. Yale University Press, 2019. ISBN 978-0300236026
  • In a Post-Hegelian Spirit: Philosophical Theology as Idealistic Discontent. Baylor University Press, 2020. ISBN 978-1-4813-1159-5
  • American Democratic Socialism: History, Politics, Religion, and Theory. Yale University Press, 2021. ISBN 978-0300253764
  • A Darkly Radiant Vision: The Black Social Gospel in the Shadow of MLK. Yale University Press, 2023. ISBN 978-0300264524
  • The Spirit of American Liberal Theology: A History. Westminster John Knox, 2023. ISBN 978-0664268411

References

  1. 1 2 "Gary Dorrien : CV" (doc). Myunion.utsnyc.edu. Retrieved November 11, 2016.
  2. ↑ Dorrien, Gary John (1989). Transformations of Modernity: The Common Good in Social and Theological Theory (PhD thesis). Union Institute. OCLC 984155347.
  3. ↑ Steinfels, Peter (May 25, 2007). "Two Social Ethicists and the National Landscape". The New York Times. p. B6. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  4. ↑ Horstkoetter, David W. (2016). Gary Dorrien, Stanley Hauerwas, Rowan Williams, and the Theological Transformation of Sovereignties (PhD dissertation). Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Marquette University. p. 26. Retrieved September 12, 2020.
  5. ↑ "Gary Dorrien". NNDb. Retrieved June 12, 2013.
  6. 1 2 3 "Department of Religion". religion.columbia.edu. Retrieved May 30, 2017.
  7. ↑ "Gary Dorrien '78 | Union Theological Seminary". utsnyc.edu. Archived from the original on November 24, 2016. Retrieved May 30, 2017.
  8. ↑ "ABOUT US". Democratic Socialists of America. Retrieved July 14, 2018.
  9. 1 2 Dorrien, Gary (2015). The New Abolition: W. E. B. Du Bois and the Black Social Gospel. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. pp. ix–x. ISBN 9780300205602.
  10. 1 2 "The Light in the Chapel Window". LuxEsto: The Magazine of Kalamazoo College. Winter 2001. Retrieved October 26, 2021.
  11. ↑ Person, Dave (February 3, 2001). "K-College names theologian to first distinguished professorship". Kalamazoo Gazette.
  12. ↑ "Outstanding Academic Titles | Awards & Grants". www.ala.org. Retrieved October 3, 2017.
  13. ↑ "Social Ethics in the Making: Interpreting an American Tradition". The Christian Century. Retrieved May 24, 2019.
  14. ↑ "2012 Award Winners - PROSE Awards". PROSE Awards. Retrieved October 3, 2017.
  15. ↑ Dorrien, Gary (March 16, 2015). Amazon.com: Kantian Reason and Hegelian Spirit: The Idealistic Logic of Modern Theology (9781119016540): Gary Dorrien: Books. ISBN 978-1119016540.
  16. ↑ Burton, Bill (December 1, 2016). "Renowned Ethicist Gary Dorrien Wins 2017 Grawemeyer Award In Religion". 89.3 WFPL News Louisville. Retrieved June 12, 2017.
  17. ↑ "New Abolition | Yale University Press". yalebooks.yale.edu. Retrieved September 20, 2021.
  18. ↑ "Breaking White Supremacy | Yale University Press". yalebooks.yale.edu. Retrieved May 24, 2019.
  19. ↑ Harvey, P. (July 2018). "Dorrien, Gary J. Breaking white supremacy: Martin Luther King Jr. and the black social gospel". Choice: 1341–1342.
  20. ↑ "Rev. Dr. Garry Dorien awarded the American Library Association's Choice Award | Department of Religion". religion.columbia.edu. Retrieved April 13, 2023.
  21. ↑ McManus, Matt (February 14, 2023). "'American Democratic Socialism' Has a Proud, Diverse, and Inspiring History". Current Affairs. ISSN 2471-2647. Retrieved April 13, 2023.
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