Robert Wood Lynn papers, circa 1942 -- 2018

Robert Wood Lynn was born on April 3, 1925 in Wheatland, Wyoming. Lynn graduated from Princeton University (B.A., 1948), Yale Divinity School (B.D., 1952), and Union Theological Seminary in New York City (Th.D., 1959). After graduation from Yale and ordination, he accepted a call to serve as assistant minister for adult education at Montview Boulevard Presbyterian Church in Denver; this experience increased his sense of the importance and possibilities of Christian education, and Lynn subsequently entered a doctoral program at Union, where he studied for two years with Paul Ramsey, H. Richard Niebuhr, Lewis Sherrill, Reinhold Niebuhr, and Paul Tillich, before returning for another three years of teaching in the Denver congregation. In 1959, Lynn was appointed to the faculty of Union, where he pioneered in the historical study of Christian education. One year later he was named Dean of Auburn Theological Seminary, a Presbyterian institution located at Union. During his tenure at Union and Auburn, Lynn's influences included C. Ellis Nelson, Robert T. Handy, Lawrence Cremin, and colleagues at Columbia Teacher's College and Jewish Theological Seminary. Lynn declined the offer of the presidency of Union in 1963, and then from 1975-1989 was a foundation officer and Vice President for Religion at the Lilly Endowment, a private family foundation in Indianapolis that funds research and support for American religious institutions, where he developed grants programs addressed to understanding and renewing theological education, congregational life, and other areas of American religion, with steady concern for how such institutions might serve the common good. Convinced that American religion's expansion far beyond the mainstream Protestant churches had implications for all religious groups and for the shape of American life as a whole, Lynn persuaded Lilly to include Catholic, Jewish, African American, and Evangelical scholars, leaders, and institutions in the Endowment's work. Lynn also focused on theological education, including the changing role of seminaries in religious life and education. Lynn retired from Lilly at 64 and moved to New England. He later served for ten years as a member of the Corporation of Yale University, where he led the search for Yale's president, Richard C. Levin, in 1993, and also served as a trustee, lecturer, or consultant at various theological schools. In addition, Lynn helped establish the Lake Family Institute on Faith and Giving at the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University/Purdue University Indianapolis. Robert Wood Lynn died on October 7, 2018, at the age of 93, survived by his wife of 66 years Katherine Wuerth Lynn, two of their children, eight grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren. Lynn's writings include "Protestant Strategies in Education" (1964), "Big Little School: 200 Years of the Sunday School" (with Elliot Wright, 1971, 1980), "Amazing Pressure: The Hidden History of Stewardship in American Protestantism" With D. Susan Wisely (2012) and numerous articles in various publications.

[biography adapted from https://www.biola.edu/talbot/ce20/database/robert-wood-lynn]