William Stringfellow
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Frank William Stringfellow (April 28, 1928–March 2, 1985) was an American
lay theologian A lay theologian is a theologian "who is not ordained, or a theologian who has not been trained as a theologian". Despite not being trained as theologian or ordained, lay theologians may have academic qualifications in other disciplines. Examples ...
, lawyer and social activist who was active mostly during the 1960s and 1970s.


Life and career


Early life and education

Born in Johnston,
Rhode Island Rhode Island ( ) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Is ...
, on April 26, 1928, he grew up in Northampton,
Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...
, and graduated from Northampton High School in 1945. He managed to obtain several scholarships and entered
Bates College Bates College () is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Lewiston, Maine. Anchored by the Historic Quad, the campus of Bates totals with a small urban campus which includes 33 Victorian ...
in Lewiston,
Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...
, at the age of fifteen. He later earned a scholarship to the
London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...
and served in the US 2nd Armored Division. Stringfellow then attended
Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...
. After his graduation, he moved to a slum tenement in
Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater ...
,
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, to work among poor
African Americans African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa ...
and
Hispanics The term Hispanic () are people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an ethnic or meta-ethnic term. The term commonly appli ...
.


Activism

His career of activism can be traced to his junior year at Bates, when he organized a sit-in at a local Maine restaurant that refused to serve people of color. It was his first foray into social activism, and he never looked back. Just a few years later, Stringfellow gained a reputation as a strident critic of the social, military and economic policies of the US and as a tireless advocate for racial and
social justice Social justice is justice in relation to the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society where individuals' rights are recognized and protected. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has of ...
. That justice, he declared, could be realized only if it were pursued according to a serious understanding of 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 the
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 ...
faith. He was particularly active in the Civil Rights Movement and has spoken extensively about civil disobedience through nonviolence and integration, particularly in an interview with
Robert Penn Warren Robert Penn Warren (April 24, 1905 – September 15, 1989) was an American poet, novelist, literary critic and professor at Yale University. He was one of the founders of New Criticism. He was also a charter member of the Fellowship of Southern ...
for the book '' Who Speaks for the Negro?''. As a Christian, he viewed his vocation as a commitment, bestowed upon him in baptism, to a lifelong struggle against the "powers and principalities", which he believed systemic evil is sometimes called in the
New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...
, or "Power of Death". He proclaimed that being a faithful follower of Jesus means to declare oneself free from all spiritual forces of death and destruction and to submit oneself single-heartedly to the power of life. In contrast to most younger liberal Protestant theologians of his time, Stringfellow insisted on the primacy of the Bible for Christians as they undertook such precarious and inherently dangerous work. This placed him not within the camp of
evangelicalism Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...
, but that of
neo-orthodoxy In Christianity, Neo-orthodoxy or Neoorthodoxy, also known as crisis theology and dialectical theology, was a theological movement developed in the aftermath of the First World War. The movement was largely a reaction against doctrines of 19th ...
, particularly the part of that school influenced by the
Swiss Reformed The Protestant Church in Switzerland (PCS), formerly named Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches until 31 December 2019, is a federation of 25 member churches – 24 cantonal churches and the Evangelical-Methodist Church of Switzerland. The PC ...
theologian
Karl Barth Karl Barth (; ; – ) was a Swiss Reformed theologian. Barth is best known for his commentary '' The Epistle to the Romans'', his involvement in the Confessing Church, including his authorship (except for a single phrase) of the Barmen Decl ...
, who made a rare compliment to Stringfellow on his only visit to the US. Yet others might classify him as a harbinger of the later liberation theology during the 1970s and 1980s. Although, to be clear, Stringfellow himself was ultimately critical of any self-described
political theology Political theology is a term which has been used in discussion of the ways in which Theology, theological concepts or ways of thinking relate to politics. The term is often used to denote religious thought about political principled questions. Scho ...
that would allow itself to function as a closed
ideology An ideology is a set of beliefs or values attributed to a person or group of persons, especially those held for reasons that are not purely about belief in certain knowledge, in which "practical elements are as prominent as theoretical ones". Form ...
. During his lifetime, similar ideas to Stringfellow's could be found in the writings of the French critic
Jacques Ellul Jacques Ellul (; ; January 6, 1912 – May 19, 1994) was a French philosopher, sociologist, lay theologian, and professor. Noted as a Christian anarchist, Ellul was a longtime professor of History and the Sociology of Institutions on the ...
, with whom he had an ongoing correspondence. He made pointed criticisms of theological seminaries: those of the liberal Protestant mainline were theologically shallow, their curriculum and ethos a mixture of "poetic recitations ... social analysis, gimmicks, solicitations, sentimentalities, and corn." On the other hand, he considered fundamentalist/orthodox institutions to isolate themselves from modern society; he commented, "... if they actually took the Bible seriously they would inevitably love the world more readily ... because the Word of God is free and active in the world." These conditions were, he felt, symptomatic of the twin errors of acculturated religious liberalism and authoritarian dogmatism, two options American Christians usually chose from in order to achieve the same goal: domesticating the Gospel and thus blunting its transformative impact on both individuals and the state. Instead of concerning himself with the US academic theological scene, Stringfellow sought an audience of law and business students, especially those who opted to embrace Christian beliefs and all the while fully involved themselves in the world. A lawyer by profession, Stringfellow's chief legal interests pertained to
constitutional law Constitutional law is a body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a state, namely, the executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary; as well as the basic rights of citizens and, in ...
and
due process Due process of law is application by the state of all legal rules and principles pertaining to a case so all legal rights that are owed to a person are respected. Due process balances the power of law of the land and protects the individual p ...
. He dealt with both every day in Harlem as he represented victimized tenants, accused persons who would otherwise have inadequate counsel in the courts, and impoverished African Americans who were largely excluded from public services like hospitals and government offices. Throughout his student days Stringfellow had involved himself in the
World Student Christian Federation The World Student Christian Federation (WSCF) is a federation of autonomous national Student Christian Movements (SCM) forming the youth and student arm of the global ecumenical movement. The Federation includes Orthodox, Protestant and Cathol ...
. He later became deeply immersed in the
World Council of Churches The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, most jurisdictions of the Eastern Orthodo ...
, as well as his native denomination, the Episcopal Church (
Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...
), where he supported the ordination of women. Stringfellow was also involved with the Sojourners Community in
Washington, DC Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...
. He also harbored at his Block Island home the Jesuit priest
Daniel Berrigan Daniel Joseph Berrigan (May 9, 1921 – April 30, 2016) was an American Jesuit priest, anti-war activist, Christian pacifist, playwright, poet, and author. Berrigan's protests against the Vietnam War earned him both scorn and admiratio ...
, who went underground after fleeing from federal authorities for acts of civil disobedience.


Influence

Stringfellow's foremost contribution to theological thought is to see in "images, ideologies, and institutions" the primary contemporary manifestations of the demonic powers and principalities often mentioned in the Bible. This outlook made him categorically suspicious of activities of governments, corporations, and other organizations, including the institutional churches, a viewpoint that placed him at odds with the nearly-ubiquitous "progressive" sentiments of the mid-20th century. In the mid-1960s, he defended Bishop James Pike against charges of heresy lodged against him by his fellow Episcopal bishops, believing them moved more by politics (i.e., appeasement of the denomination's conservatives such as Southerners and the wealthy) than serious faith. Recent treatments of his body of work include those by theologian
Walter Wink Walter Wink (May 21, 1935 – May 10, 2012) was an American Biblical scholar, theologian, and activist who was an important figure in Progressive Christianity. Wink spent much of his career teaching at Auburn Theological Seminary in New Yor ...
, Bill Wylie-Kellermann and Sharon Delgado, all ordained United Methodist ministers. He has also influenced later Roman Catholics, including
John Dear John Dear (born August 13, 1959) is an American Catholic priest and peace activist. He has been arrested 85 times in acts of nonviolent civil disobedience against war, injustice, nuclear weapons. Biography Early life Dear was born in Eliza ...
and journalist
Nathan Schneider Nathan Schneider (born 1984) is an American scholar and former journalist, who specializes in economic justice in the online economy. Since 2015, he has been a professor of media studies at the University of Colorado Boulder. Writing on relig ...
, as well as evangelical social activists, Jim Wallis and Shane Claiborne, and biblical scholar, Wes Howard Brook.


Personal life

He had a longtime relationship with the
Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...
poet Anthony Towne from the 1960s until Anthony died in 1980. He wrote ''A Simplicity of Faith: My Experience in Mourning'' (1982) afterwards, wherein he identified Anthony as "my sweet companion for seventeen years." He never publicly identified himself as a
homosexual Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" exc ...
, but wrote and spoke on the topic, always denouncing the idolatry of both
homophobia Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who identify or are perceived as being lesbian, Gay men, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred, or ant ...
(as it is now called) in churches and the "ostentation" of
gay culture LGBTQ culture is a culture shared by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer individuals ( LGBTQ people). It is sometimes referred to as queer culture (indicating people who are queer), LGBT culture, and LGBTQIA culture, while the term ...
, which he believed too often encouraged assuaging loneliness with lust and promiscuity. He died from diabetes on March 2, 1985. That ailment was a consequence of life-threatening surgery in 1968 which removed his pancreas, and episode recounted in detail in his book ''A Second Birthday''.


William Stringfellow Award

Since the 2000–2001 academic year,
Bates College Bates College () is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Lewiston, Maine. Anchored by the Historic Quad, the campus of Bates totals with a small urban campus which includes 33 Victorian ...
annually recognizes a student and a citizen in
Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...
for their work pursuing peace and justice. The Office of the Chaplain at Bates Colleges gives these awards to individuals who they find have "courageous and sustained commitment to redressing the systemic, root causes of violence and social injustice."


Books

*''The Life of Worship and the Legal Profession'', New York; New York National Council, 1955 (available in reprint). *''A Public and Private Faith'', Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1962; Eugene, Ore. : Wipf and Stock Pub., 1999, *''Instead of Death'', New York, NY: Seabury Press, 1963. Eugene, OR : Wipf & Stock, 2004. *''My People Is the Enemy'', New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1964; Eugene, OR : Wipf & Stock, 2005. *''Free in Obedience'', New York, NY: Seabury Press, 1964; Eugene, Or. : Wipf & Stock Publishers, 2006. *''Dissenter in a Great Society'', New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1966. *(with Anthony Towne) ''The Bishop Pike Affair'', New York, NY: Harper & Row, 1967. *''Count It All Joy'', Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1967; Eugene, OR : Wipf and Stock, 1999. *''Imposters of God: Inquiries into Favorite Idols'', Washington, DC: Witness Books, 1969. *''A Second Birthday'', Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1970. *(with Anthony Towne) ''Suspect Tenderness: The Ethics of the Berrigan Witness'', New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1971. *''An Ethic for Christians and Other Aliens in a Strange Land'', Waco, TX: Word, 1973. Eugene, Or. : Wipf & Stock, 2004. *(with Anthony Towne) ''The Death and Life of Bishop Pike'', Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1976. *''Instead of Death'', 2nd Edition, New York, NY: Seabury Press, 1976. *''Conscience and Obedience'', Waco, TX: Word, 1977. *''A Simplicity of Faith: My Experience in Mourning'', Nashville, TN: Abingdon, 1982. *''The Politics of Spirituality'', Philadelphia, PA: Westminster Press, 1984. *''Foreword to Melvin E. Schoonover, Making All Things Human: A Church in East Harlem'', New York; Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1969.


Notes


References


External links


William Stringfellow Biography, by Victor Shepherd
nbsp;– Bates College

nbsp;– Explanation of Imagery
1999 article by Bill Wylie-Kellermann in ''Anglican Theological Review'' about Stringfellow
(12 pages total)
"The Biblical Circus of William Stringfellow"
in ''Religion Dispatches''
"An Inconvenient Theology"
book review in ''Commonweal'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Stringfellow, William 1928 births 1985 deaths 20th-century American lawyers 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American theologians 20th-century Anglican theologians Alumni of the London School of Economics American activists American Episcopal theologians Bates College alumni Christian radicals Deaths from diabetes in the United States Harvard Law School alumni Lay theologians LGBTQ Anglicans United States Army soldiers 20th-century American Episcopalians