Douglas W. Oldenburg (February 22, 1935 to July 21, 2020) was a

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

pastor and President Emeritus at

Columbia Theological Seminary Columbia Theological Seminary is a Presbyterian seminary in Decatur, Georgia. It is one of ten theological institutions affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA). History Columbia Theological Seminary was founded in 1828 in Lexington, Geor ...

in the US. He served as the moderator of the 210th General Assembly of the

Presbyterian Church (USA) The Presbyterian Church (USA), abbreviated PCUSA, is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination, denomination in the Religion in the United States, United States. It is the largest Presbyterian denomination in the United States too. Its th ...

in 1998.

Early life and education

Douglas Oldenburg was born on February 22, 1935, in Muskegon,

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

and grew up in Signal Mountain,

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

and Charlotte,

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

. His parents were Frederika Nordoff and Theodore Oldenburg; his father had immigrated from

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as a small child. He attended college at

Davidson College Davidson College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Davidson, North Carolina, United States. It was established in 1837 by the Concord Presbytery and named after American Revolutiona ...

, where he earned a B.S. in 1956. In 1960, he continued to

Union Theological Seminary in Virginia Union Presbyterian Seminary is a Presbyterian seminary in Richmond, Virginia, and Charlotte, North Carolina, offering graduate theological education in multiple modalities: in-person, hybrid, and online. History As a result of efforts undertak ...

where he received a B.D. in 1960, and went on to study at

Yale Divinity School Yale Divinity School (YDS) is one of the twelve graduate and professional schools of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Congregationalist theological education was the motivation at the founding of Yale, and the professional school has ...

where he earned his S.T.M. in 1961. He was also awarded four honorary Doctorate of Divinity degrees (Rhodes College, Budapest Reformed Theological Academy, St. Andrews Presbyterian College, and Davis and Elkins College) and two honorary Doctor of Humane Letters (Hastings College and Davidson College).

Career

During his time at Davidson College, he was an officer in the

ROTC The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC; or ) is a group of college- and university-based officer-training programs for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces. While ROTC graduate officers serve in all branches o ...

, a Lieutenant in the US Army and served as part of the Chaplaincy as a Captain in the Army Reserve. Following his graduation from Union Theological Seminary in Virginia, he served as pastor at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Lynchburg, Virginia. After seven years he served as a

pastor A pastor (abbreviated to "Ps","Pr", "Pstr.", "Ptr." or "Psa" (both singular), or "Ps" (plural)) is the leader of a Christianity, Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutherani ...

at Davis Memorial Church in Elkins, West Virginia. He then served as pastor in the city where he grew up, Charlotte, North Carolina. Oldenburg also served on local committees in several communities. In Lynchburg, Virginia he helped to organize the Kum Ba Ya House ministry for disadvantaged children. In Elkins, West Virginia he led a successful vote on a bond levy to raise teacher salaries. In Charlotte, North Carolina he was on the Board of United Community Services and was a co-founder and board member of Crisis Assistance Ministry. He received the Martin Luther King, Jr. award and The Order of the Hornet of Mecklenburg County. In Atlanta, Georgia he served on the board of Global Health Action and the University Center of Georgia and worked to co-ordinate relationships between the presidents of all the seminaries of the Presbyterian Church (USA). After serving a total of 26 years as pastor, he then became the seventh president of

in 1987, which he held until his retirement in 2000. He served many institutions and churches including the

. He served on a variety of committees for the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and became the moderator of the 210th General Assembly in 1998. His platform largely centered on theological education and social justice. He called for support of the ordination of educators and for unity among the nation's church related colleges and universities. As Moderator, he called for every congregation and presbytery to engage in a program of study about what Presbyterians believe about the

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

and how they read the Bible. For many years, he served on the board of Focused Community Strategies (FCS Urban Ministries) and the Protestant Radio and Television Center (now called ''Day1''). In 2018, Oldenburg was recognized as a distinguished leader in theological education by the Committee on Theological Education and the Theological Education Fund at the General Assembly for the Presbyterian Church (USA) for his commitment and contribution to theological education and the Presbyterian Church.

Publications

He contributed several articles to different publications. These include: *''The Anguish of the Earth'', Journal for Preachers, 1991. *''Reflections of a Pastor/President'', Theological Education Leadership, Volume XXXII, Supplement III, 1996. * ''The Growing Economic Disparities in the United States'', Journal for Preachers, 1997.

Personal life

Oldenburg was married to Claudia and they had three sons.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oldenburg, Douglas 20th-century American Presbyterian ministers Presidents of Columbia Theological Seminary Davidson College alumni 2020 deaths People from Muskegon, Michigan Presbyterian Church (USA) teaching elders Union Presbyterian Seminary alumni Yale Divinity School alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Moderators of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA)