Title: Religion Communicators Council Honors ELCA Pastor Martin Marty ELCA NEWS SERVICE
April 7, 2008
Religion Communicators Council Honors ELCA Pastor Martin Marty 08-037-FI
CHANTILLY, Va. (ELCA) -- The Religion Communicators Council (RCC) presented the Rev. Martin E. Marty, Chicago, with a special Wilbur Award for promoting open, public discourse on religion. Marty, a pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, was honored April 5 during a banquet closing the RCC's 79th annual convention.
Marty is the author of more than 50 books and more than 5,000 articles, essays, papers, chapters and forewords.
"In the second half of the 20th century, no name was more recognized in the field of religion than Dr. Marty's, and few have contributed as much through writings and commentary to the public discourse of religion," said Philip Poole, RCC president, Birmingham, Ala.
Marty is the sixth person in the 60-year history of the Wilbur Awards to receive special recognition. Named for Marvin C. Wilbur, a pioneer in religion public relations, Wilbur Awards are given annually to secular journalists, authors, broadcasters and film producers for outstanding work addressing religious issues, themes and values.
The RCC presented 11 other Wilbur Awards for work completed in 2007. Winners included The Wall Street Journal, CBS News, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. and producers of the feature film "Amazing Grace."
Marty, 80, retired in 1998 after 35 years at the University of Chicago, teaching the history of modern Christianity in its Divinity School, where the Martin Marty Center promotes "public religion" efforts. He has served on the staff of The Christian Century since 1956 and edited Context, a newsletter on religion and culture, since 1969. He contributes to Sightings, an electronic editorial published by the Marty Center.
A graduate of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, and the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, Marty earned a doctorate in 1956 from the University of Chicago. He served as pastor of Grace Lutheran Church, River Forest, Ill., and Holy Spirit Lutheran Church, Elk Grove Village, Ill., before joining the University of Chicago faculty.
He and his wife Harriet, a musician, are the parents of seven children, including two foster children.
RCC is an international interfaith association of religion communicators in print and electronic communication, marketing and public relations. -- -- --
A complete list of Wilbur Award winners is at
http://www.religioncommunicators.org/wilbur.html on the Web. More information about the Rev. Martin E. Marty is at http://www.illuminos.com/ on the Web.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org http://www.elca.org/news ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog