The Rev. Dr. Andrew J. White, who as a service-minded
activist profoundly lived out his 30-year career of teaching practical theology
at The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (LTSP), died Sunday, May
6, 2012 in Chambersburg, PA, where he lived in retirement. He was 79.
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| Emeritus Professor "Jack" White on campus in 2005 |
When White, known to colleagues and friends as “Jack,”
retired from LTSP in 1997, he had held the Peter Paul and Elizabeth Hagan
Professor Chair of Practical Theology for 14 years and had served as secretary
of the faculty for three years. From 1983 until his retirement, he was director
of Contextual Education (field work) at the school, and directed the seminary’s
Graduate School (Advanced-Level Degree Programs) from 1991 until he retired.
During his seminary career, White served four years (1978-82) as Executive
Director of the Council for Lutheran Theological Education in the Northeast
(CLTEN), which coupled the Philadelphia and Gettysburg seminaries with 11
regional synods and districts of two national Lutheran church bodies of that
time, the Lutheran Church in America and the American Lutheran Church,
predecessor bodies of the current Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)
denomination. White for many years also edited Parish Practice Notebook, a publication that sought to convey to alumni and
other church leaders fresh ideas in connection with successful congregational
ministry.
What especially distinguished White was how his teaching of
theology was reflected in his lifestyle of engaging himself in a wide variety
of community service endeavors. Such interests were evident early in his
career. He served two congregations before becoming a professor — Bethany
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Cicero, IN, and Calvary Evangelical Lutheran
Church in East Cleveland, OH. While in East Cleveland he also chaired that
city’s Human Relations Committee (1962-65).
“Jack White had remarkable energy and a real vision for
where he thought the church should go,” recalls the Rev. Dr. LeRoy Aden, a
colleague of White’s who retired as the Luther D. Reed Professor of Practical
Theology after a 27-year career at the seminary. “Many of us on the faculty
were teaching in more theoretical areas. Jack had a real focus on the practical
side of ministry in the world, particularly social ministry and the urban
church. He was not a traditional thinker, but was sometimes viewed as something
of a vagabond. He could be really assertive. He was not much into the usual way
of doing things.”
Aden said even though his wife, Miriam Eileen Recker White,
was not in the best of health during their retirement years living at Luther
Ridge Retirement Community, Chambersburg, PA, they maintained active lives,
traveling overseas as active supporters of global ministry in South Africa and
Germany. The Whites spent a year in Slovakia in retirement while White taught
at Bratislava Seminary there. In 1998, White was an international observer of
the Parliamentary elections in Slovakia representing the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
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| Prof. White in 1997 |
He continued that vigorous service in retirement in Central
Pennsylvania. White served as a member of the Ethics Committee and as an
on-call chaplain for the Chambersburg Hospital. He was vice-chair for the Board
of Lutheran Home Care and Hospice in the area, a tutor for the Harrisburg
area’s Scotland School for Veterans Children, which closed in 2009. (It was
originally founded to serve the children of Civil War veterans.) In retirement
White was a board member of the Auxiliary of Lutheran Social Services of South
Central Pennsylvania and former president of the Franklin-Fulton Chapter of
Thrivent Financial for Lutherans.
A Wittenberg University graduate (1954), he earned his
Master of Divinity in 1957 from Hamma School of Theology, a predecessor school
for today’s Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, OH. Trinity named him its
distinguished alumnus in 1986. He earned his PhD from Case Western Reserve
University in 1969, focusing his thesis on the areas of political science and
community organization. He earned the Master of Theology from the Christian
Theological Seminary in Indianapolis, IN.
In Philadelphia, the Whites belonged to Reformation Lutheran
Church in East Mount Airy. He served on a committee assigned to call a pastor,
as assistant scoutmaster, as a member of the congregation’s finance committee,
and its choir. For several years he served the Board of the Northwest
Philadelphia Lutheran Parish, a collaborative organization of Lutheran
congregations.
White was also involved in activities of the Southeastern
Pennsylvania Synod of the ELCA. He served on a task force on Ministry of the
Laity and on a committee evaluating chaplaincy services. National church
activities included service on a commission to study the nature and mission of
the congregation and serving in South Africa as a volunteer missionary (1990).
After his wife died early last year, White remarried. His
widow, Phyllis Ann Akers White, survives. Also surviving are four children,
Mary Sue Burns of Marlinton, WVA; Daniel of Atlanta, GA; John of Houston, TX,
and James of Huntingdon, PA; five grandchildren, Jesse and Jonathan Burns, Sara
May, Shelby T. and Joanna M. White; and a sister, Dorothy Jean Robinson of
Ormond Beach, FL. Two stepchildren survive: Kathryn Perbetzky of Philadelphia
and George Akers of Gettysburg, PA.
A memorial service will be held at 11 am Thursday, May 10,
at St. Luke Lutheran Church on the Luther Ridge Retirement
Community campus, 2695 Luther Drive, Chambersburg, PA 17202, where White was a
member. In lieu of flowers, gifts are invited for Lutheran Social Services of
South Central Pennsylvania, 1050 Pennsylvania Avenue, York, PA 17404, or The
Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia, 7301 Germantown Avenue,
Philadelphia, PA 19119.
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