Americans celebrated the first Earth Day 50 years ago this spring, on April 22, 1970. That same year the United Presbyterian Council on Church and Society undertook a study on threats facing human survival on an increasingly crowded and polluted planet. The study culminated in the 1971 United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. General Assembly adopting the council’s report, Christian Responsibility for Environmental Renewal.
The Rev. Dr. Joyce Cummings Tucker, a Presbyterian pastor, author, and prominent leader in theological education, died Friday, July 12, in New York City following a short illness. She lived in Princeton, N.J.
The next U.S. presidential primary election will feature at least three viable women candidates — a development that would have no doubt thrilled Presbyterian minister and leader Eunice Poethig. The Presbyterian Historical Society recently completed the processing of Poethig’s papers, and they illuminate her advocacy work in expanding the numbers of women and people from other marginalized communities serving as leaders in ministry and civic life.
Soon after Congress passed the 13th Amendment in 1865, officially ending slavery in the United States, the chaplain of Congress asked the Rev. Henry Highland Garnet to preach before the House of Representatives on Capitol Hill.
In many ways, Garnet was a logical choice for the Sunday worship service. The 50-year-old pastor of Washington, D.C.’s Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church had escaped slavery as a child and grown up to become a leading abolitionist and orator. And yet Garnet was also an ardent and dedicated political activist who did not hold back when speaking out against injustice — no matter the audience.
Mansei! The shouts rang out in support of Korean independence on March 1, 1919. After nine years of Japanese colonial rule, 33 activists — including pastors of Korean Presbyterian churches and other leading Christians — gathered in Seoul to read aloud the newly drawn up Korean Declaration of Independence. That same afternoon, crowds filled the streets in locations around the country, waving Korean flags and shouting their support for independence.
The next U.S. presidential primary election will feature at least three viable women candidates — a development that would have no doubt thrilled Presbyterian minister and leader, Eunice Poethig. The Presbyterian Historical Society recently completed the processing of Poethig’s papers, and they illuminate her advocacy work in expanding the numbers of women and people from other marginalized communities serving as leaders in ministry and civic life.
Individuals and organizations whose written materials and photos can help tell the historical stories of LGBTQIA+ advocates in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) are invited to consider contributing those materials to the Pam Byers Memorial Collecting Initiative, sponsored by the Presbyterian Historical Society (PHS). In October the PHS announced the public phase of the initiative. Financial support for the project has been raised through the Pam Byers Memorial Fund.
William Bayard Miller joined the church triumphant on December 14, 2018, at age 94. When I learned of his passing, I was saddened by the loss of a dear friend, colleague, and mentor who served the church from 1957 until his retirement in 1989.
