Theologian, Educator (1902-1995)
John Coleman Bennett was a leading Christian theologian who applied ethical principles to the urgent issues of modern society. Born on 22 July 1902 in Kingston, Ontario, Bennett was educated at Williams College, Oxford University, and Union Theological Seminary in New York. He spent his entire career as a seminary professor, beginning at Union Seminary in 1927. From 1930 to 1938 he was a member of the faculty of Auburn Theological Seminary.
Bennett's first book, Social Salvation (1935), was followed by Christianity and Our World (1936). The former set forth his lifelong conviction that societal problems must be an integral part of Christian thinking; the latter championed the existence of a common morality upon which Christian ethics must build and to which it must appeal. From 1938 to 1943, Bennett taught at the Pacific School of Religion at Berkeley. In 1939, he was ordained a Congregational minister. His book Christian Realism appeared in 1941. In 1943, Bennett returned to Union Theological Seminary, where he became dean of the faculty in 1955 and in 1960 became the first holder of the Reinhold Niebuhr Professorship of Social Ethics. He served the seminary as its president from 1964 until his retirement in 1970. As a professor and administrator at Union, Bennett forged alliances with seminaries of various faiths, including the Jewish Theological Seminary and the Woodstock Theological Seminary, a Roman Catholic institution.
Bennett's other published works include Christian Ethics and Social Policy (1946), Christianity and Communism Today (1948; rev. 1960), The Christian as Citizen (1955), Christians and the State (1958), Nuclear Weapons and the Conflict of Conscience (editor; 1962), When Christians Make Political Decisions (1964), Christian Social Ethics in a Changing World (editor; 1966), and Foreign Policy in Christian Perspective (1966).
Prominent in the ecumenical movement, Bennett was an official leader in deliberations on the church and the social order at the Amsterdam (1948), Evanston (1954), and New Delhi (1961) assemblies of the World Council of Churches. He served the National Council of Churches of Christ in the Unites States in various positions. With his friend and colleague Reinhold Niebuhr, Bennett founded the influential journal Christianity and Crisis in 1941 and continued as its editor for many years. He became politically engaged as vice- chairman of the Liberal party in New York State (1955-1965) and, in 1960, as a leading Protestant defender of John F. Kennedy's candidacy against those who feared a Roman Catholic president. His involvement in political and social issues extended to participation in the civil rights movement, protests against the war in Vietnam, opposition to the use of nuclear weapons, and, late in his life, advocacy of gay and lesbian rights within the church. Bennett's final book The Radical Imperative was published in 1975, although he continued to contribute articles to Christianity and Crisis until 1993.
Bennett died April 27, 1995. New York Times obituary on 2 May 1995.
