Throughout his distinguished career, University of Chicago Prof. Emeritus and the Rev. Dr. Martin E. Marty was one of the country’s foremost theologians and religious historians—a renowned public intellectual who shaped conversations about religion’s role in contemporary culture.
Marty, the Fairfax M. Cone Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of the History of Modern Christianity, died Feb. 25 at age 97. A UChicago alum and faculty member of UChicago’s Divinity School for 35 years, Marty, PhD’56, is being remembered as a groundbreaking scholar and devoted teacher, whose academic discourse and mentorship influenced generations of scholars and students.
Marty’s interpretation of Protestantism and fundamentalism in the U.S. still frame the view of modern American religion. At the height of his influence, he was described by historian L. Benjamin Rolsky as “arguably the public intellectual of the 1980s.” Biographer Grant Wacker suggested Marty deserved a place alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Billy Graham and Jonathan Edwards on the “Mount Rushmore of American religious history”; Time magazine once called him the “most influential interpreter of religion” in the United States.
“For 35 years, Martin Marty was a cornerstone of the Divinity School, shaping the study of religion and public life with his visionary scholarship and steadfast commitment to teaching,” said Prof. James T. Robinson, dean of the Divinity School. “His voice, always measured and profound, guided critical conversations on religion, and his work explored the intersections of faith, culture, and society. He left an indelible mark on the field of religious studies.”
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