Jack Leven Stotts, professor of Christian ethics, president of McCormick Theological Seminary and, later, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, and chair of the committee that wrote the Brief Statement of Faith that was added to the Book of Confessions in 1991, died of natural causes January 24, 2008 in Austin, Texas.
Stotts was 75 years old. He is survived by his wife of 54 years, Virginia, who was with him when he died, and by their three children, Stuart, Anna, and Nancy.
A native of Dallas, Texas, Stotts earned his bachelors degree from Trinity University in 1954. He received his bachelors in divinity from McCormick Seminary in 1957, and his Ph.D. from Yale Divinity School in 1965. Stotts’ ministry included serving as the first chaplain of the Sharpe Chapel at the University of Tulsa, a three-year pastorate in San Angelo, Texas. He then went to McCormick Seminary as a professor, in time becoming its president, and late was called to Texas to lead Austin Seminary.
While chaplain at the University of Tulsa in 1958-59, Stotts invited Jim Lawson to speak to students and faculty there. Lawson had been expelled from the Vanderbilt Divinity School for leading non-violent civil rights sit-ins. As a result of this invitation to Lawson, Stotts’ contract as chaplain was not renewed.
Stotts served on the faculty of McCormick for twelve years (1963-75) and was then elected the seminary’s president, a position he held for a decade (1975-85). In 1985 he became the seventh president of Austin Seminary, where he served until his retirement in 1996. At Austin, Stotts oversaw the growth and strengthening of the faculty as well as the construction of the McCord Community Center.
Stotts saw his call to Austin as an affirmation of the new unity of the United Presbyterian Church and the Presbyterian Church in the United States that had been achieved in 1983. With J. Randolph Taylor, a southern Presbyterian, going to serve as president of San Francisco Theological Seminary, Stotts, a northern Presbyterian, saw his own appointment at Austin as symbolizing the unity of the new denomination.
With that reunion, Taylor, the new moderator, appointed Stotts to chair a committee to write a statement of faith for the new denomination. The result was “A Brief Statement of Faith” which was approved by the 203rd General Assembly in 1991 for inclusion in the Book of Confessions.
Among the many books Stotts wrote are Believing, Deciding, Acting (1968), Shalom: The Search for a Peaceable City (1973), and A God to Glorify: Reflections on Christian Vocation (1996). In addition, he co-edited (with Jane Dempsey Douglas) a book on the “Brief Statement”, To Confess the Faith Today (1990).
Cynthia Campbell, president of McCormick Seminary, notes that the year Stotts became president of McCormick was also the year that the seminary moved from Lincoln Park to the Hyde Park on Chicago’s south side. Stotts “was a leader in forging relationships with other educational institutions such as the University of Chicago, the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, and other seminaries,” Campbell recalls.
In addition, according to Campbell, Stotts’ preaching ministry was “exceptionally strong, and he is remembered with great affection by Fourth Presbyterian Church for serving as the Interim Preacher following Elam Davies’ pastorate and as “Theologian/Preacher in Residence” during John Buchanan’s moderatorial year.”
Ted Wardlaw, the president of Austin seminary, issued the following statement: “It is impossible to measure the profound impact Jack Stotts had upon Austin Seminary. When he arrived as president here in 1985, he was an immediate breath of fresh air, bringing with him his characteristic qualities: integrity, clarity, honesty, forthrightness, the stewardship of the mind, and — perhaps most significant of all — courage in the face of the question ‘What ought we to do as obedient servants of God?’ For eleven years he formed this school as a scholar, leader and churchman. His legacy here is ongoing, and we are his debtors.”
Judy Fletcher, executive of the Synod of the Sun, recalls Stotts as “the embodiment of compassion and integrity.” She went on to say that “issues of peace and justice were central for him. This gentle soul touched the lives of so many, including me. He preached a powerful sermon for my installation as synod executive almost ten years ago. I love him and shall deeply miss him, his quick wit, and his keen insights.”
Doug Harper, who served on the committee to write the “Brief Statement of Faith”, noted that he and Jack were at very different places theologically, and yet “it was a joy to work with him.” As chair of that committee, Stotts was “fair and eager to give everyone an opportunity to contribute”, according to Harper. In fact, Harper calls that experience as “one of the happiest experiences of organized life that I’ve ever had.”
Ann Weems, another member of that committee, remembers Stotts as always being “calm and even-keeled, even when times were tense.” When persons had firmly-entrenched theological positions, “barriers seemed to fall away” under Stotts’ leadership, recalls Weems. Stotts’ sense of humor also made an impression on Weems. “He would get a twinkle in his eye and come out with a quiet, but witty observation.”
Jerry Shetler served as chair of the board of trustees at Austin Seminary when Stotts came to serve as president. Stotts’ commitment to social justice was firm and deep, recalls Shetler. At the same time, Stotts was “a gentleman of the first order,” never saying anything negative about anyone that Shetler could remember.
General Assembly Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick first became acquainted with Stotts 25 years ago when Kirkpatrick was in McCormick’s Doctor of Ministry program. A tutorial course on justice revealed Stotts’ passion for that subject. Stotts’ gift of sharing with “a generation of students across the church, across the denomination, across the world the nurture, vision, and hope that connects the gospel with justice in the world” will be a huge loss to the church, Kirkpatrick said.
Details of a memorial service to be held at Central Presbyterian Church in Austin are still pending
Wardlaw said in a statement announcing the death: ‘We will all deeply miss Jack, and are grateful to God for his extraordinary witness as a seminary president, and ethicist, a fabulous human being, and a child of God. We at Austin Seminary will particularly miss his presence around campus adn the wonderful gift he was to us both in his active years and his retirement years.’
James S. Currie is associate dean of Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary and director of the seminary’s Houston Extension Program.
Jack Stotts, who died today (January 24) in Austin, Texas, was the president of Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary 1985-1996. He is pictured near the seminary’s chapel in 1996. Photo by Tom Lankes / Austin American Statesman, courtesy Austin Seminary.
