wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Church historian Edward Dowey dies

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Church historian Edward Dowey dies
03237
May 19, 2003
	
Church historian Edward Dowey dies

Princeton professor was a leading chronicler, interpreter of Reformation

by Alexa Smith

PRINCETON, NJ -- A prominent historian of the Reformed theological tradition
who taught at Christian doctrine at Princeton Theological Seminary for nearly
30 years has died. 
	
The Rev. Dr. Edward A. Dowey Jr., 85, died at Princeton Medical Center on May
5 from complications of Parkinson's disease. 
	
A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. on Saturday, May 31, in Miller
Chapel at Princeton Seminary. 
	
Dowey is survived by his wife, Lois; a son, Edward, of Pound Ridge, NY; a
daughter, Elizabeth, of Medford, MA; three grandchildren, Colin and Alison
Dowey and Luc Barbeau; and one brother, William, of Malibu, CA. 
	
"For 30 years, he was the leading interpreter of the Reformation to seminary
students. A whole generation of seminary students are grateful to him for
what they learned of Luther, Calvin and the Reformation. He was an
outstanding teacher in this regard," said Charles West, a professor emeritus
of Christian ethics at Princeton Seminary who was Dowey's colleague for 26
years. 
	
"His early book, The Knowledge of God in Calvin's Theology, turned over a new
leaf in understanding Calvin, centering on Calvin's understanding of Christ 
rather than on the providence of God or double predestination. All of his
teaching life, he started his understanding of Calvin through his (works)
that teach Christ," West said. 
	
Dowey, who joined the Princeton Seminary faculty in 1957 as a professor of
Christian doctrine, was honored as the Archibald Alexander Professor of the
History of Christian Doctrine in 1982. After his retirement in 1988 he was
named a professor emeritus.
		
His foremost contribution to the denomination was his service as chair of the
Committee on a Brief Contemporary Statement of Faith of the United
Presbyterian Church in the USA, the group that authored the Confession of
1967, whose theme was reconciliation in Christ, particularly racial
reconciliation.
	
Dowey and his colleagues on the committee devoted more than eight years to
the task of writing the confession, which was incorporated into the church's
constitution. He later published A Commentary on the Confession of 1967 and
An Introduction to the Book of Confessions, which are still used by students
of the confessional heritage of the church. 
	
Dowey's confessional legacy is what the Rev. John Wilkinson, of Rochester,
NY, addressed in his Ph.D. work on the Confession of 1967. "Equally at home
in theology and church history, Dowey's true gift was in connecting the
Reformed and Presbyterian confessional heritage to the church's work,"
Wilkinson said. 
	
"Nowhere was that vocation more vital than in the development of the
Confession of 1967. "'C67' -- and the entire Book of Confessions -- brought
the great resources of the Reformed theological tradition to the important
issues faced by the church in the 1960s.
	
"Those same theological issues (such as Christology and Biblical authority)
and social issues (race, warfare, economics and human sexuality) are as
critical today as when first articulated nearly four decades ago. Dowey's
strong leadership with the committee and throughout the church during the
'C67' process continues to bear fruit for the church's witness."
	
Born in Philadelphia, PA, on Feb. 21, 1918, Dowey from Lafayette College in
1940. He earned a B.D. from Princeton Seminary in 1943; an M.A. from Columbia
University in 1947; and a Th.D. from the University of Zurich in 1949
(studying with theologian Emil Brunner). He received honorary degrees from
Lafayette College, Lewis and Clark University and Coe College. 
	
Dowey began his teaching career after his return from Zurich. He was an
instructor at Lafayette College from 1949 to 1951 and an assistant professor
at Columbia University from 1951 to 1954. He joined the faculty of McCormick
Theological Seminary in Chicago as an associate professor of church history,
and taught there until his 1957 return to Princeton to anchor its
history-of-doctrine curriculum. 
	
Dowey was also a churchman. He was by the Presbytery of Lackawanna in 1943
and served as a chaplain in the U.S. Navy for three years, first with the
Marines during World War II in the Pacific, then in a military hospital. 
	
He served on the Joint Committee on Church Union, the Task Force on the
Confessional Nature of the Church and the Faith and Order Commission of the
World Council of Churches (WCC). 
	
Reflecting on her years as a student and then a colleague of Dowey's,
Princeton Reformation studies professor Elsie McKee said Dowey was always
"passionate" about his subject and often found inventive ways to approach it.
In a course called, "(The Doctrines of) Sin and Evil," she said, he took
students to New York City galleries and museums to see artists' portrayals of
sin and evil. 
	
"Dr. Dowey's Calvin class was always fully subscribed, and his love for both
this father in the faith and the church spilled over in many ways," McKee
said. "For example, in the description of Calvin's teaching about the
Christian's knowledge of God as 'existential'; it clearly was that for him.
While focused on the texts, Dr. Dowey had an eye on their contemporary use or
misuse. He was always determined that we should grasp the real 'scandal of
the cross' and not get tangled up in spurious theological debates."
	
Contributions may be made in Dowey's memory to the Edward A. Dowey Jr. Prize
in Reformation Studies at Princeton Seminary, through the vice president for
seminary relations, P.O. Box 821 Princeton, NJ 08542-0803; or to the National
Parkinson Foundation, Inc., Development Department, c/o Lois Hefferman or
Julian Pearson, 1501 N.W. 9th Avenue, Miami, FL 33136-1494. 

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