Gary Dorrien

{{Short description|American social ethicist and theologian (born 1952)}}

{{Infobox person

| honorific_prefix = The Reverend

| name = Gary Dorrien

| image = Gary Dorrien.jpg

| alt =

| caption = Dorrien in 2023

| birth_name = Gary John Dorrien

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1952|03|21}}

| birth_place =

| death_date =

| death_place =

| nationality = American

| years_active =

| known_for =

| spouse = {{marriage|Brenda L. Biggs|1979|2000|end=died}}

| partner = Eris McClure{{cite web |title=Fall 2019 STH Lowell Lecture |url=https://www.bu.edu/sth/fall-2019-sth-lowell-lecture/ |url-status=live |publisher=Boston University |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240805183301/https://www.bu.edu/sth/fall-2019-sth-lowell-lecture/ |archive-date=August 5, 2024}}

| module = {{Infobox clergy|child=yes

| religion = Christianity (Anglican)

| church = Episcopal Church

| ordained = December 18, 1982 (priest)

}}

| module2 = {{Infobox academic|child=yes

| alma_mater = {{unbulleted list | Alma College|Union Theological Seminary | Princeton Theological Seminary | Union Institute}}

| thesis_title = Transformations of Modernity{{cite thesis |last=Dorrien |first=Gary John |year=1989 |title=Transformations of Modernity: The Common Good in Social and Theological Theory |degree=PhD |publisher=Union Institute |oclc=984155347}}

| thesis_url =

| thesis_year = 1989

| school_tradition = Theological liberalism{{cite thesis |last=Horstkoetter |first=David W. |year=2016 |title=Gary Dorrien, Stanley Hauerwas, Rowan Williams, and the Theological Transformation of Sovereignties |url=https://epublications.marquette.edu/dissertations_mu/632 |type=PhD dissertation |location=Milwaukee, Wisconsin |publisher=Marquette University |page=26 |access-date=September 12, 2020}}

| doctoral_advisor =

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| influences = Reinhold Niebuhr{{cite news |last=Steinfels |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Steinfels |date=May 25, 2007 |title=Two Social Ethicists and the National Landscape |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/26/us/26beliefs.html |url-access=limited |newspaper=The New York Times |page=B6 |access-date=February 24, 2018}}

| era =

| discipline = {{hlist | Religious studies | theology}}

| sub_discipline = Christian ethics

| workplaces = {{unbulleted list | Kalamazoo College | Union Theological Seminary | Columbia University}}

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| main_interests =

| notable_works = The Making of American Liberal Theology (2001–2006)

| notable_ideas =

| influenced =

}}

Gary John Dorrien (born 1952) is an American social ethicist and theologian. He is the Reinhold Niebuhr Professor of Social Ethics at Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York and Professor of Religion at Columbia University, both in New York City, and the author of 25 books on ethics, social theory, philosophy, theology, politics, and intellectual history.{{Cite web|url=http://religion.columbia.edu/people/Gary%20Dorrien|title=Department of Religion|website=religion.columbia.edu|access-date=May 30, 2017}}

Prior to joining the faculty at Union and Columbia in 2005, Dorrien taught at Kalamazoo College in Michigan, where he served as Parfet Distinguished Professor and as Dean of Stetson Chapel.

An Episcopal priest, he has taught as the Paul E. Raither Distinguished Scholar at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, the Horace De Y. Lentz Visiting Professor at Harvard Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the Lowell Visiting Professor at Boston University School of Theology.{{Cite web|url=https://utsnyc.edu/academics/faculty/gary-dorrien-78/|title=Gary Dorrien '78 {{!}} Union Theological Seminary|website=utsnyc.edu|language=en-US|access-date=May 30, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161124040837/https://utsnyc.edu/academics/faculty/gary-dorrien-78/|archive-date=November 24, 2016|url-status=dead}}

Dorrien is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America's Religion and Socialism Commission.{{cite web|url=https://www.religioussocialism.org/about|title=ABOUT US|work=Democratic Socialists of America|access-date=July 14, 2018}}

Early life

Born on March 21, 1952,{{cite web|url=http://myunion.utsnyc.edu/file/Dorrien-Vitae.doc |format=doc|title=Gary Dorrien : CV|website=Myunion.utsnyc.edu|access-date=November 11, 2016}}{{cite web|url= http://www.nndb.com/people/949/000360866/ |title= Gary Dorrien | publisher = NNDb |access-date= June 12, 2013 }} Dorrien grew up in a working class, semi-rural area of middle-Michigan, Bay County, and in nearby Midland, Michigan. His parents, Jack and Virginia Dorrien, grew up in poor areas of Michigan's Upper Peninsula.{{Cite book|last=Dorrien|first=Gary|title=The New Abolition: W. E. B. Du Bois and the Black Social Gospel|publisher=Yale University Press|year=2015|isbn=9780300205602|location=New Haven, CT|pages=ix-x|language=English}} Growing up, his family was nominally Catholic.{{Cite news|date=Winter 2001|title=The Light in the Chapel Window|work=LuxEsto: The Magazine of Kalamazoo College|url=https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/51497534/download-luxesto-winter-2001-zinta-aistars|access-date=October 26, 2021}} Dorrien played multiple varsity sports at Midland High School and Alma College,{{Cite news|last=Person|first=Dave|date=February 3, 2001|title=K-College names theologian to first distinguished professorship|work=Kalamazoo Gazette}} graduating summa cum laude from Alma in 1974. He earned graduate degrees from Union Theological Seminary, Princeton Theological Seminary, and a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) from Union Graduate School in 1989. He has been awarded honorary doctoral degrees from MacMurray College (DLitt, 2005), Trinity College (DD, 2010), Meadville Lombard Theological School (LHD, 2015), Virginia Theological Seminary (DD, 2020), and Wake Forest University (DD, 2024).{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsWk1kvfCwg |title=Wake Forest University 2024 Commencement Ceremony |date=2024-05-20 |last=Wake Forest University |access-date=2024-10-07 |via=YouTube}}

Awards

Dorrien won the American Library Association's Choice Award in 2009 for his book Social Ethics in the Making: Interpreting an American Tradition, which The Christian Century described as "magnificent, sprawling and monumental."{{Cite web|url=http://www.ala.org/awardsgrants/awards/370/all_years|title=Outstanding Academic Titles {{!}} Awards & Grants|website=www.ala.org|language=en|access-date=October 3, 2017}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.christiancentury.org/reviews/2009-10/social-ethics-making-interpreting-american-tradition|title=Social Ethics in the Making: Interpreting an American Tradition|website=The Christian Century|language=en|access-date=2019-05-24}}

He won the Association of American Publishers' PROSE Award in 2012 for his book Kantian Reason and Hegelian Spirit: The Idealistic Logic of Modern Theology, described as "a brilliant and much needed account of the influence of Immanuel Kant and the tradition of post-Kantian idealism on modern theology."{{Cite news|url=https://proseawards.com/winners/2012-award-winners/#body|title=2012 Award Winners - PROSE Awards|work=PROSE Awards|access-date=October 3, 2017|language=en-US}}{{Cite book|title=Amazon.com: Kantian Reason and Hegelian Spirit: The Idealistic Logic of Modern Theology (9781119016540): Gary Dorrien: Books|isbn=978-1119016540 |last1=Dorrien |first1=Gary |date=March 16, 2015 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons }}

He won the Grawemeyer Award in 2017 for his book The New Abolition: W. E. B. Du Bois and the Black Social Gospel, described by theologian William Stacey Johnson as, "a magisterial treatment of a neglected stream of American religious history presented by one of this generation's premiere interpreters of modern religious thought performing at the top of his game."{{Cite news|url=http://wfpl.org/renowned-ethicist-gary-dorrien-wins-2017-grawemeyer-award-religion/|title=Renowned Ethicist Gary Dorrien Wins 2017 Grawemeyer Award In Religion|last=Burton|first=Bill|date=December 1, 2016|work=89.3 WFPL News Louisville|access-date=June 12, 2017|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|title=New Abolition {{!}} Yale University Press|url=https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300205602/new-abolition|access-date=2021-09-20|website=yalebooks.yale.edu}}

He won the Choice Award in 2018 for his book Breaking White Supremacy: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Black Social Gospel, which Choice described as "intellectual history at its finest...A triumph of careful scholarship, rigorous argument, clear prose, unblinking judgments and groundbreaking conclusions…indispensable."{{Cite web|url=https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300205619/breaking-white-supremacy|title=Breaking White Supremacy {{!}} Yale University Press|website=yalebooks.yale.edu|access-date=2019-05-24}}{{Cite journal|last=Harvey|first=P.|date=July 2018|title=Dorrien, Gary J. Breaking white supremacy: Martin Luther King Jr. and the black social gospel|journal=Choice|pages=1341–1342}}

He won the American Library Association's Choice Award for the third time in 2023 for his book American Democratic Socialism: History, Politics, Religion, and Theory, described in Current Affairs as “a masterpiece. American Democratic Socialism will be the definitive history for some time.”{{Cite web |title=Rev. Dr. Garry Dorien awarded the American Library Association's Choice Award {{!}} Department of Religion |url=https://religion.columbia.edu/news/rev-dr-garry-dorien-awarded-american-library-associations-choice-award |access-date=2023-04-13 |website=religion.columbia.edu}}{{Cite news |last=McManus |first=Matt |date=2023-02-14 |title='American Democratic Socialism' Has a Proud, Diverse, and Inspiring History |language=en |work=Current Affairs |url=https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/2023/02/american-democratic-socialism-has-a-proud-diverse-and-inspiring-history |access-date=2023-04-13 |issn=2471-2647}}

He won the Gandhi King Mandela Peace Prize in 2024 at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia; the prize citation commended his “distinguished teaching and magisterial, rigorous, monumental, and definitive scholarship that counter and disrupt White racist theology and ethical inquiry by centering the truths of Black life, Black Christian witness, and political imagination.”{{Cite web |last=Hollingsworth-Harris |first=Aaron |date=2024-04-16 |title=Rev. Dr. Gary Dorrien Receives the Gandhi-King-Mandela Peace Prize from Morehouse College |url=https://utsnyc.edu/blog/2024/04/16/rev-dr-gary-dorrien-receives-the-gandhi-king-mandela-peace-prize-from-morehouse-college/ |access-date=2024-10-07 |website=Union Theological Seminary |language=en-US}}{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_C0AQJAEfY;%20https://www.facebook.com/Morehouse1867/videos/crown-forum-after-dark-worldhouse-interfaith-assembly-morehouse-morehousecollege/50343867803244 |title=Benjamin Elijah Mays Crown Forum & MLK Jr. Induction Ceremony |date=2024-04-11 |last=Morehouse College |access-date=2024-10-07 |via=YouTube}}

Books

Logic and Consciousness: The Dialectics of Mind, Hastings Press, 1985.
The Democratic Socialist Vision, Rowman & Littlefield, 1986.
Reconstructing the Common Good: Theology and the Social Order. Orbis Books (June 1990). {{ISBN|978-0-88344-659-1}}
The Neoconservative Mind: Politics, Culture, and the War of Ideology, Temple University Press, 1993, 1994.
Soul in Society: The Making and Renewal of Social Christianity, Fortress Press, 1995.
The Word as True Myth: Interpreting Modern Theology, Westminster John Knox Press, 1997.
The Remaking of Evangelical Theology, Westminster John Knox Press, 1998.
The Barthian Revolt in Modern Theology: Theology Without Weapons, Westminster John Knox Press, 2000.
The Making of American Liberal Theology: Imagining Progressive Religion, 1805 - 1900 (v. 1). Westminster John Knox Press; 1 edition (October 1, 2001). {{ISBN|978-0-664-22354-0}}
The Making of American Liberal Theology: Idealism, Realism, and Modernity, 1900-1950 (v. 2). Westminster John Knox Press; 1 edition (February 2003). {{ISBN|978-0-664-22355-7}}
Imperial Designs: Neoconservatism and the New Pax Americana. Routledge (August 31, 2004). {{ISBN|978-0-415-94980-4}}
The Making of American Liberal Theology: Crisis, Irony, and Postmodernity: 1950-2005 (v. 3). Westminster John Knox Press (November 1, 2006). {{ISBN|978-0-664-22356-4}}
Social Ethics in the Making: Interpreting an American Tradition. Wiley-Blackwell; illustrated edition (December 22, 2008). {{ISBN|978-1-4051-8687-2}}
Economy, Difference, Empire: Social Ethics for Social Justice. Columbia University Press; (October 2010). {{ISBN|978-0-231-14984-6}}.
Kantian Reason and the Hegelian Spirit: The Idealistic Logic of Modern Theology. Wiley-Blackwell (April 17, 2012). {{ISBN|978-0470673317}}
The Obama Question: A Progressive Perspective. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc, 2012. {{ISBN|978-1-4422-1537-5}}
The New Abolition: W. E. B. Du Bois and the Black Social Gospel. Yale University Press, 2015. {{ISBN|978-0-300-20560-2}}
Breaking White Supremacy: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Black Social Gospel. Yale University Press, 2017. {{ISBN|978-0-300-20561-9}}
Social Democracy in the Making: Political and Religious Roots of European Socialism. Yale University Press, 2019. {{ISBN|978-0300236026}}
In a Post-Hegelian Spirit: Philosophical Theology as Idealistic Discontent. Baylor University Press, 2020. {{ISBN|978-1-4813-1159-5|}}
American Democratic Socialism: History, Politics, Religion, and Theory. Yale University Press, 2021. ISBN 978-0300253764
A Darkly Radiant Vision: The Black Social Gospel in the Shadow of MLK. Yale University Press, 2023. ISBN 978-0300264524
The Spirit of American Liberal Theology: A History. Westminster John Knox, 2023. ISBN 978-0664268411
Anglican Identities: Logos Idealism, Imperial Whiteness, Commonweal Ecumenism, Baylor University Press, 2024, ISBN 9781481320948
Over from Union Road: My Christian-Left-Intellectual Life, Baylor University Press, 2024, {{ISBN|978-1-4813-2241-6}}

References

External links

[https://web.archive.org/web/20100414154927/http://www.utsnyc.edu/Page.aspx?pid=351 Gary Dorrien]. Faculty, Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York
[https://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/07032009/profile.html Faith and Economic Justice]. Gary Dorrien, [http://www.cornelwest.com/ Cornel West] and [https://web.archive.org/web/20100530064835/http://www.utsnyc.edu/Page.aspx?pid=1081 Serene Jones] appear as guests on Bill Moyers Journal. This program originally aired July 3, 2009 on PBS
[http://theragblog.blogspot.com/2012/05/rag-radio-thorne-dreyer-theologian-and.html "Theologian and Social Ethicist Gary Dorrien"] by Thorne Dreyer, The Rag Blog, May 2, 2012. Includes podcast of April 27, 2012, Rag Radio interview with Gary Dorrien. (57:18)
[https://web.archive.org/web/20161124040837/https://utsnyc.edu/academics/faculty/gary-dorrien-78/ Faculty profile discusses Dorrien's family life]
"[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y08FLHaOcvs A Lecture by the Rev. Dr. Gary Dorrien"] at St. John the Evangelist Church, September 25, 2024
"[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASDZddKMFws&feature=youtu.be Gary Dorrien: Theological Ethics & Liberal Protestantism]" August 12, 2024
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ME1ZW77ch6I&feature=youtu.be Lowell Lecture featuring Gary Dorrien]
"[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSKiMCGC1A0&feature=youtu.be Rev. Dr. Gary Dorrien - Wealth, Inequality, and Social Responsibility: A Christian History]" Dec 8, 2017
"[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Suix1-RDfnw 2017 Grawemeyer Religion Award Lecture - Gary Dorrien]" May 9, 2017
"[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM-vllyxKIw&feature=youtu.be Democratic Socialism: There and Then, Here and Now]" Apr 3, 2019
"[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zph4vAKToLY&feature=youtu.be American Democratic Socialism]" Nov 17, 2021
"[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dA8y9MblE58&feature=youtu.be CONVOCATION 2020 | with the Rev. Gary Dorrien, Ph.D.]"
"[https://jameslutheradams.org/2016-forum-gary-dorrien-james-luther-adams-and-the-spirit-of-liberal-theology/ 2015 Forum: Gary Dorrien, James Luther Adams and the Spirit of Liberal Theology]"
"[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tk-PAtziRrI Celebrating Re-Enchantment]"

Category:1952 births

Category:20th-century American Episcopal priests

Category:20th-century Anglican theologians

Category:21st-century American Episcopal priests

Category:21st-century Anglican theologians

Category:American Christian socialists

Category:American ethicists

Category:American Episcopal theologians

Category:Anglican socialists

Category:Christian socialist theologians

Category:Columbia University faculty

Category:Kalamazoo College faculty

Category:Living people

Category:Members of the Democratic Socialists of America

Category:Union Theological Seminary faculty