He was not a household name, but in the sometimes arcane world of biblical archaeology, Hershel Shanks was a star—and often a rabble-rouser.
Shanks, the founder and longtime editor of Biblical Archaeology Review, died February 5 at the age of 90.
Roy Speckhardt announced on February 5 that he is stepping down from his position as executive director of the American Humanist Association.
Speckhardt said that after 15 years at the top of the organization, it was time for him to “step down and make room for new leadership,” noting that the most prominent organizations representing atheists and freethinkers have never had non-White leadership.
Melvin E. Banks, founder of Urban Ministries, Inc., died on February 13. He was 86.
In 1970, UMI—the largest, independent, Black-owned Christian publishing company in the country—pioneered the practice of creating contextualized images of Black people in the Bible.
“So many people have been introduced to the life-changing message of Jesus because of Dr. Banks’ ground-breaking initiatives,” said Terri Hannett, UMI’s vice president in a statement.
G. Sujin Pak has been named dean of Boston University’s School of Theology. She succeeds Mary Elizabeth Moore—the first woman to lead the theology school—who announced in 2019 her intention to step down from the position she had held since 2009.
Christian ethicist James M. Gustafson died on January 15 at the age of 95.
Gustafson’s 45-year teaching career spanned three institutions: Yale—both in the divinity school and the religious studies department—the University of Chicago, and Emory University. Among his students were ethicists who would go on to have substantial influence of their own, including Stanley Hauerwas, Nigel Biggar, and Lisa Sowle Cahill.
In a tribute written for Emory, former university president James T. Laney said that with Gustafson’s death the world had lost a “towering scholar.”
Patrick Matsikenyiri, a United Methodist hymn writer and teacher, died on January 15 from complications related to COVID-19. He was 83.
Born in Zimbabwe, Matsikenyiri was known around the world for his song leading and his teaching on African music. He gained international recognition in the 1980s through his work planning the worship music for World Council of Churches events. He was an early advocate of including indigenous music in congregational singing.