wfn.org | J. Randolph Taylor, architect of Presbyterian reunion, dies

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ecunet.org>]

Note #6992 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

04-January-2002
02003

J. Randolph Taylor, architect of Presbyterian reunion, dies

by Jerry L. Van Marter

LOUISVILLE - Another giant has fallen.

	The Rev. J. Randolph Taylor, who for 14 years co-moderated the Joint
Committee on Presbyterian Reunion and who was then elected moderator of the
"reunion" General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in 1983, died
Jan. 4 at his home just outside the gates of the Montreat Conference Center
in North Carolina. He would have turned 73 on Jan. 12.

	He had struggled in recent years with prostate cancer and kidney failure.
And yet, many a sojourner to western North Carolina found a ready welcome
and comfortable conversation with "Randy" and his wife, Arline, in the
rocking chairs that lined the Taylor front porch overlooking his beloved
Montreat.

	The son of Presbyterian missionary parents, Taylor was born in China in
1929. After attending public schools in Charleston, SC, and Nashville, TN,
he graduated from Davidson (NC) College and Union Theological Seminary in
Richmond, VA. Taylor earned his Ph.D. from the University of Aberdeen in
Scotland.

	Taylor served as pastor of The Church of the Pilgrims in Washington, DC
from 1956-1967; as pastor of Central Presbyterian Church in Atlanta from
1968-1976; and as pastor of Myers Park Presbyterian Church in Charlotte from
1976-1985.

	Wherever he served, Taylor was a tireless advocate for the poor and
oppressed, preaching and fighting for civil and equal rights for all
Americans. He was an outspoken supporter of Presbyterian reunion and in 1969
took on co-moderatorship of the Joint Committee on Presbyterian Reunion of
the former southern church - the Presbyterian Church in the United States
(PCUS) - and the former northern church, the United Presbyterian Church in
the United States of America (UPCUSA).

	In 1985, as a leader of the former PCUS, he took one of the first highly
symbolic steps to date in the reunited PC(USA) by agreeing to serve as
president of San Francisco Theological Seminary, a bellwether liberal
seminary of the former UPCUSA. He remained at SFTS until his retirement in
1994.

	Taylor is survived by his wife, Arline, six children, and a number of
grandchildren. Funeral arrangements are pending.
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