Ronald Frank Thiemann (1946 – November 29, 2012) was an American
political theologian and Benjamin Bussey Professor of Theology at
Harvard Divinity School
Harvard Divinity School (HDS) is one of the constituent schools of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school's mission is to educate its students either in the religious studies, academic study of religion or for leadership role ...
. His research in large part focused on the role of religion in public life. He was
dean of Harvard Divinity School from 1986 to 1998.
Biography
Thiemann, an ordained
Lutheran
Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...
minister, held an
M.A. from
Concordia Senior College
Concordia Senior College was a liberal arts college located in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and affiliated with the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod (LCMS). It was founded in 1957 and closed in 1977.
The senior college was a new type of institution fo ...
, a M.Div. from
Concordia Seminary
Concordia Seminary is a Lutheran seminary in Clayton, Missouri. The institution's primary mission is to train pastors, deaconesses, missionaries, chaplains, and church leaders for the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS). Founded in 1839, t ...
, and both an
M.A. and a
Ph.D. from
Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
. He was a professor in the Religion Department at
Haverford College
Haverford College ( ) is a private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Haverford, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded as a men's college in 1833 by members of the Religious Society of Fr ...
, where he also served as acting provost and acting president (1985–86) before joining
Harvard University
Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
in 1986.
Thiemann held the Benjamin Bussey Professorship of Theology, the oldest endowed chair in theology at Harvard. He was a faculty associate of the
Weatherhead Center for International Affairs
The Weatherhead Center for International Affairs (WCFIA), formerly Center for International Affairs (CFIA) is a research center for international affairs and the largest international research center within Harvard University's Faculty of Arts a ...
in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and was a Faculty Fellow at the John F. Kennedy School's
Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations, where he served on the steering committee of the center's Joint Program in Religion and Public Life. He was a faculty affiliate at the
Kennedy School
The Kennedy School, originally the John D. Kennedy Elementary School, is a former elementary school that has been converted to a hotel, movie theater and dining establishment in northeast Portland, Oregon. The facility is operated by the McMena ...
's Harvard Center for Public Leadership and received a fellowship from the center in support of his research project. He worked on a book-length project entitled ''Prisoners of Conscience: Public Intellectuals in a Time of Crisis'', which examines the courageous stance of four public figures—
Anna Akhmatova
Anna Andreyevna Gorenko rus, А́нна Андре́евна Горе́нко, p=ˈanːə ɐnˈdrʲe(j)ɪvnə ɡɐˈrʲɛnkə, a=Anna Andreyevna Gorenko.ru.oga, links=yes; , . ( – 5 March 1966), better known by the pen name Anna Akhmatova,. ...
,
Albert Camus
Albert Camus ( ; ; 7 November 1913 – 4 January 1960) was a French philosopher, author, dramatist, journalist, world federalist, and political activist. He was the recipient of the 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature at the age of 44, the s ...
,
Langston Hughes
James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1901 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. An early innovator of jazz poetry, Hughes is best known as a leader of the Harl ...
and
George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950) was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to a ...
—during the tumultuous period of 1914–45. In 2006 Thiemann represented the U.S.
National Academies of Science
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...
on a lecture tour of universities and research centers in the
Islamic Republic of Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
.
While acting president of
Haverford College
Haverford College ( ) is a private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Haverford, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded as a men's college in 1833 by members of the Religious Society of Fr ...
, Thiemann officiated at the May 1986 graduation ceremonies during which honorary doctorates were to be awarded to Edwin Bronner, Robert M. Gavin Jr.,
Eleanor Holmes Norton
Eleanor Holmes Norton (born June 13, 1937) is an American politician, lawyer, and human rights activist. Norton is a congressional delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives, where she has represented the District of Columbia since 1991 as ...
and
Andrew L. Lewis, Jr. Lewis, head of the Union Pacific Railroad, had recently served as U.S. Secretary of Transportation in the cabinet of Ronald Reagan and overseen the lockout of striking air traffic controllers in 1981. 28 of the college's 90 faculty had signed a letter protesting the award of the honorary doctorate to Lewis. On the dais, Lewis unexpectedly declined the award citing the lack of consensus, prompting the stunned audience to rise in applause at his action which honored the college's commitment to operating by consensus. President Thiemann later praised Lewis, calling his decision "an act of great courage and integrity".
Pornography case
Thiemann lived in a Harvard-owned residence, using a Harvard-owned computer. In fall 1998 he requested that a bigger
hard drive
A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating hard disk drive platter, pla ...
be installed in the computer. A technician then uploaded the old files to the university's
mainframe computer
A mainframe computer, informally called a mainframe or big iron, is a computer used primarily by large organizations for critical applications like bulk data processing for tasks such as censuses, industry and consumer statistics, enterprise ...
in order to install a new drive. When asked by his supervisor why this process took so long, the technician at first did not want to reply, but later mentioned the large number of image files with file names that suggested sexually explicit content. The supervisor informed University President
Neil L. Rudenstine
Neil Leon Rudenstine (born January 21, 1935) is an American scholar, educator, and Academic administration, administrator. He served as president of Harvard University from 1991 to 2001.
Early life and education
Rudenstine was born in Danbury, C ...
who then suggested that the dean resign but be allowed to stay as a
tenure
Tenure is a type of academic appointment that protects its holder from being fired or laid off except for cause, or under extraordinary circumstances such as financial exigency or program discontinuation. Academic tenure originated in the United ...
d member on the Harvard faculty. Thiemann resigned in November 1998. The story was broken by the ''
Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...
'' beginning in May 1999, and attracted the notice of national media such as Newsweek.
After a review, the University President stated that the staff had acted properly in the incident.
["Harvard Defends Role in Dean's Resignation Amid Porn Claims: Review Found Nothing Invasive in Staff's Actions, President Says", ''Boston Globe'', July 3, 1999.]
The Harvard law professor
Alan Dershowitz
Alan Morton Dershowitz ( ; born September 1, 1938) is an American lawyer and law professor known for his work in U.S. constitutional law, U.S. constitutional and American criminal law, criminal law. From 1964 to 2013, he taught at Harvard Law Sc ...
wrote, in a letter to the editor of the ''Boston Globe'', "Surely Dean Thiemann would not have been asked to resign if he had been found using his Harvard-owned computer to keep track of his private stamp collection. Nor would he have been asked to leave if a cleaning person had found a copy of a pornographic magazine in the desk drawer of his Harvard-owned residence. What, then, is the principle, and where are the lines to be drawn?"
Bibliography
Books
*Thiemann, Ronald F. ''The Humble Sublime: Secularity and the Politics of Belief.'' New York: I.B. Tauris, 2013. .
*------. ''Constructing a Public Theology: The Church in a Pluralistic Culture''. Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster/John Knox, 1991. .
*------. ''Revelation and Theology: The Gospel as Narrated Promise''. Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, 1985. .
*------. ''Religion in Public Life: A Dilemma for Democracy''. Washington, District of Columbia: Georgetown University Press, 1996. .
Book chapters
*Thiemann, Ronald F. "The Constitutional Tradition: A Perplexing Legacy", in ''Law and Religion: A Critical Anthology'', edited by Stephen M. Feldman. New York: New York University Press, 2000. .
*------. Introduction to Joan Halifax, ''A Buddhist Life in America: Simplicity in the Complex''. New York: Paulist, 1998. .
Journal articles
Editor
*
Bane, Mary Jo, Brent Coffin and Ronald F. Thiemann, eds. ''Who Will Provide: The Changing Role of Religion in American Social Welfare''. Boulder, Colorado: Westview, 2000. .
* Noll, Mark A. and Ronald F. Thiemann, eds. ''Where Shall My Wond'ring Soul Begin? The Landscape of Evangelical Piety and Thought''. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2000. .
*Thiemann, Ronald F., ed. ''The Legacy of H. Richard Niebuhr''. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Fortress, 1991. .
*------ and
William C. Placher, eds. ''Why Are We Here? Everyday Questions and the Christian Life''. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Trinity International, 1998. .
References
External links
Ronald F. Thiemann at Harvard University
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thiemann, Ronald
Harvard Divinity School faculty
Yale University alumni
Haverford College faculty
1946 births
2012 deaths
American Lutheran theologians
Political theologians
20th-century American Protestant theologians
21st-century American Protestant theologians
21st-century American non-fiction writers
20th-century Lutherans