A tribute to Garrett Green

Garrett Green, the Class of 1943 Professor of Religious Studies, listens to remarks about his teaching career made by his colleague Lindsey Harlan. Photo by Vincent Scarano

By Lindsey Harlan, Professor of Religious Studies
(These remarks were delivered at the Trustee Dinner in Hood Dining Room on Friday, May 19, 2006.)

It is an honor to be able to talk to you today about my colleague, Gary Green. I’ve been at the College almost two decades now, ever since Gary made the call to invite me to join the faculty at the College, one of the most exciting days of my life. Although I’ve chaired the department a couple of times and so have been able to see some of Gary’s annual reports, I’ve never had the opportunity to see the impressive list of accomplishments that is his CV—until now. I’ve always known that Gary is a serious scholar, but the CV documents just how serious a serious scholar he has been.

Given time constraints I can share with you just a few of the details from Gary’s CV, but I want to emphasize that what I’m sharing is really just the tip of the iceberg.

I’ll start by mentioning something that impresses me beyond words, his list of current research interests. Among these is his interest in theological aesthetics. Aided by his technological expertise and his creative imagination, Gary does images and icons with panache. And speaking of imagination, here’s Gary’s second current research interest: the concept of imagination in the philosophy of religion and theology. He has written and taught extensively on this subject.

Green receives a hug from Lindsey Harlan at the ceremony. Photo by Vincent Scarano

Another of his interests unites Christian theology and postmodern philosophy, showing that Gary is inarguably au courant. Finally there is Karl Barth’s theory of religion. This has been for Gary an abiding passion. He’s just finished a translation of one of Barth’s works, which is probably why he looks really relaxed and exhibits a certain glow of accomplishment.

These are interests that Gary takes with him into retirement, interests that I know he will keep and to which he will no doubt add during the coming decades. Gary and I recently walked back to Blaustein from Cro together and he told me how much he was looking forward to being able to write in his retirement. Although he’s been a dedicated classroom teacher, and will be teaching part-time in the department during the next couple of years, it’s clear that his passion for learning and educating through writing will be with him for a long, long time to come. As an emeritus professor, Gary will be, I have no doubt, the very sort of retiree I hope to be one day.

While Gary has been at the College, he has published a whole lot. In addition to his recent translation of Barth’s “On Religion: The Revelation of God as the Sublimation of Religion” (forthcoming from Continuum Press in 2006), Gary has published other major works. In 2000 he published with Cambridge U. Press “Theology, Hermeneutics and Imagination.” Also in 2000 appeared his edited volume “Scriptural Authority and Narrative Interpretation.” This came out from Fortress, another fine press. In 1998 he published with Harper and Row “Imagining God: Theology and the Religious Imagination” (later translated into Korean). In 1978 he published with Cambridge a translation Johann Gottlieb Fichte’s “Attempt at a Critique of All Revelation.”

Gary has published many articles. My favorite title is, “Who’s Afraid of Ludwig Feuerbach?,” though I’m also partial to “The Gender of God and the Theology of Metaphor.”

In addition, Gary has had lots of prestigious fellowships, including two grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and two Fulbrights. He’s been a fellow or visiting scholar at Cambridge, Princeton, Boston University, the University of Munster, and the University of Tubingen (and that one twice).

Gary’s also done many book reviews in important journals and given lectures at important centers of learning in the U.S. and abroad.

I should mention that because of Gary’s scholarly accomplishments in 2000 the College awarded him the Nancy Batson Nisbet Rash Award, which is given by the College in recognition of a scholar’s excellence in research.

I have spoken about Gary’s scholarly accomplishments, but it would be wrong to characterize him only as a scholar. Having earned a Ph.D. from Yale, he has been at this college since 1970. Throughout his years here Gary has been a fine teacher with high standards and great expectations of his students. Past students speak of the discipline that he instilled in them, something in which many of them display great pride. Two of our graduating Religious Studies seniors will attend Harvard Divinity School, where they will pursue their theological education after writing fine theses, one of which Gary directed, the other of which he read. But these are just the most recent in a long line of students who have taken theology to heart. Gary has taught Christian theology, Christian history, and methodology with rigor and imagination. I have team-taught with him and seen him in action. He’s just plain excellent, which is one reason that since 2000, he’s been the Class of 1943 Professor of Religious Studies.

While teaching and pursuing his scholarly interests, Gary has also served the Connecticut College community and enhanced its reputation in many ways. In recent years, he has served as the chair of Faculty Steering and Conference Committee here at the College. He also served as chair of the 19th–century Theology Group of the American Academy of Religion and has been a member of the Steering committee of the Christian Theology and the Bible group of the Society for Biblical Literature.

There are many other such activities I could mention, but what impresses me most is the work he did over a number of years to bring to CC an Islamicist in the years before which such a need was evident to all. Gary’s foresight and diligence in lobbying for an appointment in Islam are things for which my colleagues and I are ever so grateful, as have been the students who have been able to take courses in Islam, thanks to Gary’s advocacy.

As I hope I’ve made clear, Gary’s commitment to scholarship, teaching, and service has been admirable. It is an honor to have been worked with such a dedicated and fine scholar/teacher. Gary has served this College well and will, no doubt, continue to do so in the future.