Ray Sherman Anderson (1925–2009), a professor of theology who served as a parish pastor, always insisted that theology and ministry go hand-in-hand. Like Karl Barth, Prof. Anderson articulated a theology of and for the church based on God’s own ministry of revelation and reconciliation in the world. As professor and pastor, he modeled in his dealings with his students and congregations an incarnational, evangelical passion for the healing of humanity by Jesus Christ, who is both God’s self-revelation to us and the reconciliation of our broken humanity to the triune God. His gift of uniting suffering and alienated humans to Christ existing as community was a recurrent motif throughout his life, ministry, and works.
The Institute for Cultural Engagement, an official program of Multnomah University and Biblical Seminary