wfn.org | ABCUSA: Prathia Hall, Pioneering Woman in Ministry, Dies

["SCHRAMM, Richard" <Richard.Schramm@abc-usa.org>]

American Baptist News Service (8/14/02)--The Rev. Dr. Prathia L. Hall, noted
American Baptist pastor, preacher, educator, lecturer and a pioneering woman
in ministry, died Monday, Aug. 12, following a long illness.

Hall had pastored the Mount Sharon Baptist Church in Philadelphia for nearly
a quarter century.  She also had been associate professor at Boston
University School of Theology, holding the Martin Luther King Jr. Chair in
Social Ethics.  

She was widely known as a preacher and lecturer.  She delivered a plenary
sermon at the American Baptist Churches USA Biennial Meeting in 1985 in
Portland, Oreg., and had been a leader at many other denominational
gatherings. She also served on the steering committee of the American
Baptist Conference on the Partnership of Women and Men in the Community of
Faith and as chair of the Program Committee of the Progressive National
Baptist Convention, among other responsibilities.

A noted educator and writer, she specialized in womanist theology, ethics
and African American church history.  She taught courses in women and
religion, African American religious experience and Christian social ethics.
Hall held the M.Div. and Ph.D. degrees from Princeton Theological Seminary. 

In the 1960s Hall was a leader in the Student Non-violent Coordinating
Committee in Alabama and Georgia.  She later was associate dean of spiritual
and community life, director of the Harriet L. Miller Women's Center and
dean of African American Ministries at United Theological Seminary in
Dayton, Ohio. 

In 1982 Hall was the first woman received into membership of the Baptist
Ministers Conference of Philadelphia and Vicinity.  She was the 1999-2000
recipient of the Womanist Scholar Award at the Interdenominational
Theological Center in Atlanta. 
  
 At its meeting this past June the Executive Committee of the General Board
of American Baptist Churches USA issued a "Statement of Appreciation for the
Christian Ministry of Rev. Dr. Prathia L. Hall": "We...write to acknowledge
and commend Dr. Prathia L. Hall for your 25 years of dedicated service to
ordained Christian ministry.  We are honored and proud that you chose to
serve among the ranks of American Baptist clergy.  We recognize and
celebrate your gifts in many areas of ministry [and] are grateful for your
dedication to the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ....  May your
dedicated service shine as an example for those who follow in your
footsteps."

The Rev. Dr. Trinette V. McCray, past president of American Baptist Churches
USA, recalled Hall's influence: "The Rev. Prathia Hall has been a mother in
ministry to those of us who now serve in leadership in American Baptist
Churches.  We had the privilege of sitting at her feet at the outset of our
own ministries, learning from her preaching, teaching and modeling of
ministry.  Her presence will be missed, though her work lives in all of us."

American Baptist Churches USA General Secretary A. Roy Medley said: "As
American Baptists we give thanks to God for the groundbreaking ministry of
Prathia Hall.  She was an eloquent preacher, dedicated pastor and scholar
who brought the best of both scholarship and pastoral ability to bear on the
ministry she had in the larger family.  She will be missed by all of us as
one who pioneered the work of women in ministry and helped to open our eyes
to the new thing God is doing through women in ministry."

Memorial/funeral arrangements are not known at present.
  
(Please note: The American Baptist News Service will share other responses
to the pioneering ministry of Dr. Prathia Hall in a follow-up release next
week.)      

 02ABN119

American Baptist News Service: Office of Communication, American Baptist
Churches USA, P.O. Box 851, Valley Forge, PA 19482-0851; (610)768-2077; fax:
(610)768-2320; www.abc-usa.org; richard.schramm@abc-usa.org