Franklin H. LitteU

T WOULD be impossible to find a more appropriate "Man of the IFranklin Month" for this issue on The Pastorhood of the Layman than H. Littell, Professor of Church History at Chicago Theological Seminary. In both Europe and America he has been a dynamo of energy, inspiring and activating laymen and lay groups into creative expression of the life of the church as a ministering fellowship of believers. He has relegated the artificial distinction between the classical and the pastoral function of the theologian to the limbo in which it belongs, and brought a fresh awareness of history to the pastorM care instruction in this country. He has involved himself in the social concerns of the church and captured the imaginations of both students and faculties of American theological schools with his lectures and writings. Dr. Littell, the son of a Methodist minister, is a native Iowan, although born in Syracuse, New York, on June 20, 1917. He graduated from Cornell College in 1937, from Union Theological Seminary in New York in 1940, and received his Ph.D. from Yale in 1946. He holds honorary degrees, including one as Doctor of Theology from the University of Marburg in 1957. He is married to the former Harriet Davidson Lewis, earlier prominent as a MethThe youth leader, and they have four children: Jennith, Karen, Miriam, and Stephen. The range of positions Franklin Littell has "0~ ~ , a represents the posture of his life--effective service to searching minds, ecumenical involveM 0 N T H ment i n s variety of different Christian traditions, and a basic concern for intensive lay participation in the Christian life and quest through

MAN the

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PASTORAL PSYCHOLOGY MAN OF THE MONTH (Continued from page 4)

lay academies. At different times in his life he has served in the following capacities : Minister of Youth in the Central Methodist Church in Detroit; Director of Religious Affairs at the University of Michigan; Dean of the Chapel at Boston University; Senior Protestant Adviser to the American occupation in Germany; Senior Representative for Europe, Franz Lieber Foundation. He has been Professor of Church History at Candler School of Theology, Atlanta;Perkins School of Theology, Dallas, and is now in that post at Chicago Theological Seminary. In recent months he has given the Gheen Lectures (Southern Baptist Theological Seminary), the Oreon Scott Lectures (Texas Christian University), the Crozer Lectures (Crozer Theological Seminary), the Hoff Lectures (Bethany Theological School), and the T. M. Dawson Lectures (Baylot University). He was also a keynoter at the National Conference on Religion and Race at the Triennial Assembly of the National Council of Churches, and at the Biennial Assembly of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations. Dr. Littell is widely known for his work with, and writings about, the European Association of Lay Academies since 1953, and his contributions to the Free Church understanding of the church and of history. His authorship includes: The Anabaptist View of the Church: An Introduction to Sectaria~ Protestantism (for which he received the Brewer Award of the American Society of Church History) ; The Free Church; The German Phoenix, and From State Church to Religious Pluralism. His articles and editorships

are even more extensive, and have put American and European scholarship in church history in his debt. I count it a personal privilege to know Franklin Littell as a friend. He is a provocative and stimulating conversationalist who removes the varnish from any conversation with his refreshing candor and creative intensity of dialogue. He is a sort of spirituaI "Johnny Appleseed" who plants ideas and interests in people's minds to grow and produce fruitful activity for years to come. The very outreach of this issue is a result of the impact of this man on the thought of pastoral psychology in America, and we are all in his debt. --WAYNE E. OATES EDITORIAL (Continued from page 5) brought to clear focus with the work of the lay academies of Europe. The person to whom we turn for clear information about lay group movements in Europe and America is Franklin Littell, the "Man of the Month" for this issue. John Casteel, the author of Spiritual Renewal through Small Groups, has also put us in his debt by reporting and interpreting the lay group movement in America. Reuel Howe has come to grips more than any other person in our present two decades with the communication of laymen with ministers. Samuel Southard, rooted deep in a concern for the meaning of the ministry, has explored the existing research on the layman's expectations of the minister. These authors have laid out the scope and plumbed the depths of the problems and prospects of the pastorhood of the layman. --WAYNE E. OATES Guest editor