Lowell Livezey
Encyclopedia
Dr. Lowell W. Livezey (February 15 1943 - December 9 2007) was a leader in the field of congregational studies and urban ministry research. At the time of his death, he was Professor of Urban and Religious Studies and Director of the Ecologies of Learning Project at New York Theological Seminary
New York Theological Seminary
The New York Theological Seminary was established as a non-denominational institution in 1900 with the founding of the Bible Teachers’ College in Montclair, New Jersey by Wilbert Webster White. President White moved the school to New York City in 1902, when it was renamed the Bible Teachers’...
http://www.nyts.edu. Born on February 15 1943 in Erie, Pennsylvania
Erie, Pennsylvania
Erie is a city located in northwestern Pennsylvania in the United States. Named for the lake and the Native American tribe that resided along its southern shore, Erie is the state's fourth-largest city , with a population of 102,000...
, Dr. Livezey directed large studies of urban congregations in Chicago and Boston—the Religion in Urban America Program at the University of Illinois, and the Metropolitan Congregational Studies Project at Harvard Divinity School
Harvard Divinity School
Harvard Divinity School is one of the constituent schools of Harvard University, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the United States. The School's mission is to train and educate its students either in the academic study of religion, or for the practice of a religious ministry or other public...
. The Chicago project (1992-2002) resulted in the book Public Religion and Urban Transformation (New York University Press, 2000), as well as more than 35 scholarly papers and conferences. Lowell W. Livezey studied, taught, and wrote on the agency of religious organizations—especially churches, synagogues, mosques, and other worship centers—in large urban areas. Using ethnographic data assembled in collaboration with colleagues and students in Chicago, Boston, and New York, he argued that the “religion factor” is more salient than often recognized in the economic, demographic, and spatial restructuring of modern industrial cities.
Dr. Livezey received the B.A. from Swarthmore College
Swarthmore College
Swarthmore College is a private, independent, liberal arts college in the United States with an enrollment of about 1,500 students. The college is located in the borough of Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, 11 miles southwest of Philadelphia....
and the Master of Theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
and Doctor of Ministry degrees from the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
School of Divinity. He also studied at the University of Keele in Staffordshire, England. While an undergraduate at Swarthmore, he founded the Chester Home Improvement Project (CHIP) in Chester, PA where his commitment to urban ministry began. After receiving his doctorate, Dr. Livezey spent two decades in the peace movement. His first job was with the World Without War Council, first in Chicago, then as the organization’s National Director in New York. He then went on to serve as Administrative Director, undergraduate program, of the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
. This work inspired him to conduct a study of how NGO’s conceived of human rights, beginning his second career in studying communities, meanings, culture, and social change. After publishing Nongovernmental Organizations and the Ideas of Human Rights, Dr. Livezey turned his attention to congregations, founding the Religion in Urban America Program. He then taught at Harvard as Luce Lecturer in Urban Ministry at Harvard Divinity School
Harvard Divinity School
Harvard Divinity School is one of the constituent schools of Harvard University, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the United States. The School's mission is to train and educate its students either in the academic study of religion, or for the practice of a religious ministry or other public...
and directed of its Metropolitan
Congregational Studies Project. In 2005, Dr. Livezey became Professor of Urban and Religious Studies and Director of the Ecologies of Learning Project (EOL) at New York Theological Seminary, funded through a major $2 million grant from Lilly Endowment, Inc. of Indianapolis. With EOL, Dr. Livezey considered the entire New York metropolitan area to be his research laboratory.
Dr. Dale T. Irvin, President of New York Theological Seminary, stated that “Lowell Livezey was a person immense insight, wisdom and compassion, a person of great integrity and depth, and an outstanding colleague. He embodied the values of teaching, learning and research that lie at the heart of the scholarly endeavor. He also was a friend, a caring human being, someone around whom community is easily formed. In the language that is familiar to the people of faith, Lowell has simply been a blessing to NYTS. Lowell helped us all understand the life and work of the churches and especially the intellectual task of preparation for ministry more clearly.”
Dr. Peter Paris, Professor of Christian Social Ethics Emeritus, Princeton Theological Seminary
Princeton Theological Seminary
Princeton Theological Seminary is a theological seminary of the Presbyterian Church located in the Borough of Princeton, New Jersey in the United States...
and NYTS Trustee, stated that “Lowell Livezey had a great passion for all matters pertaining to human rights and social justice and especially the many and varied ways that religious institutions inspire and initiate those endeavors.”
Dr. Craig Dykstra, Senior Vice President, Religion, Lilly Endowment
Lilly Endowment
Lilly Endowment Inc., headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana is one of the world's largest private philanthropic foundations and is among the ten largest such endowments in the United States....
, stated that “Lowell Livezey’s work on religion and urban culture is path-breaking—a permanent contribution. His patient, generous and imaginative work with pastors and other religious leaders in Chicago, Boston and New York, as well as with scholars, will bear great fruit for many years to come.”
Dr. Livezey died of pancreatic cancer at his home in New York City with his wife, Dr. Lois Gehr Livezey, at his side. Dr. Gehr Livezey, who retired in 2006 as Professor of Christian Ethics at McCormick Theological Seminary
McCormick Theological Seminary
McCormick Theological Seminary is one of eleven schools of theology of the Presbyterian Church . It shares a campus with the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, bordering the campus of the University of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois...
, served as Director of the Globalization Project of the Center for World Christianity at New York Theological Seminary.