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eileen and warren martin

For the Martins—he, a retired Presbyterian pastor, and she, a retired elementary school teacher—it was cutting edge lectures in biblical scholarship that ignited their early interest in emerging theological studies, Warren said.

"Those lectures opened an entirely new way of seeing faith and what faith entails," he said.

Inspired by hearing theologians like Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan, the Martins developed the dream of creating an annual lectureship to support progressive thought in the field of religion. That dream has been realized with their $250,000 donation to the Idea Campaign that underwrites the Eileen and Warren Martin Lectureship Fund for Emerging Studies in Bible and Theology.

Eileen died in 2005, but for Warren, 88, it is impossible for him to think of this gift—or any other aspect of his life—except in tandem with the "lively girl" he met in the 7th grade in Sharpsville, Pa. Embarrassed because he had not yet "learned" his colors, he turned to her in an art class for help in choosing the correct color pencil for a project. (It was months later before he learned he is profoundly color blind.)

Warren’s father was a "working man" for Westinghouse and his job took the family from Braddock, Pa., where Warren was born, to Sharon, Pa., and finally to Sharpsville, where the fateful meeting with Eileen McCann occurred and where in 1936 Warren became the first high school graduate on either side of his family.

"The discussion of college was not in the mental environment of my people," Warren said. "They were people with work skills."

So he found work as a house painter and later at Westinghouse as a clerk in the steel construction department, where he learned to weld and work with drill presses and lathes. Later he spent time in the drafting room, taking a few college classes because he thought he wanted to be a mechanical engineer.

Then came his call to ministry. After completing three years’ college work in 15 months, he graduated from Washington and Jefferson College in the class of 1943. He began his seminary studies that year at Western Theological Seminary, an antecedent of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, and on New Year’s Eve, he and Eileen were married.

Following graduation from seminary, Warren served the Presbyterian Church for 38 years, pastoring local congregations in Butler County, Reynoldsville, Apollo and Beaver, all in Pennsylvania, and working for 10 years in the development office of the seminary.

"I am a mechanic by nature, a draftsman by trade and a preacher by calling," Warren said.

Eileen, in the meantime, stayed at home until the youngest of their four children started school, then she earned her bachelor’s degree in education and taught third and fourth graders for 21 years.

Their children include Claudia, a dental hygienist in Valparaiso, Ind.; Keith, owner of an electrical company in Elmira, N.Y.; David, a rheumatologist in Canton, Ohio; and Tom, an attorney in Wilmington, Del.

The couple retired in 1983, and the ensuing years brought travel (Europe, the Caribbean, Panama) volunteering (Eileen logged more than 3,000 hours at the Aliquippa hospital), hobbies (Warren built furniture and took up blacksmithing)—and Chautauqua.

Early in their marriage they had visited the Institution once or twice, one time camping with their family in Mayville. Their daughter, Claudia, had worked a summer at the Institution, waiting tables and clerking in the bookstore, and their middle son, David, had brought his wife and three daughters for a week’s vacation.

But it wasn’t until 1999 that the Martins found themselves sitting in the Hall of Philosophy enthralled by a dialogue between contemporary Jesus scholar Marcus Borg and British theologian N.T. Wright.

"That set the course for us," Warren said. "We saw immediately that Borg’s lecturing was the future. It answered our questions that were puzzling. It set us to thinking. The next year we heard Crossan. My goodness, was this wonderful!"

"I’m absolutely convinced this is the wave of the future. It is a diminutive wave now, but it will become a tsunami. This emerging study that Borg and Crossan and others represent is where the future of the Christian faith lies."

The effects progressive thinking will have on Christianity are yet to be seen, but the Rev. Joan Brown Campbell, director of the Institution’s Department of Religion, is convinced hearing this point of view is important for Chautauqua listeners.

"Warren’s gift means that now every year we will have the resources and the mandate to bring before Chautauqua audiences the cutting edge of theological thought," she said. "Combined with other 2 o’clock lecturers, we can offer the very best thinking and the very best scholars across a range of understanding."

Plans are already under way to inaugurate the Eileen and Warren Martin Lectureship during Week Eight of 2008. Borg and Crossan will offer the opening lectures.

In the meantime, Warren, who lives at the Tel Hai Retirement Community in Honey Brook, Pa., looks forward to Week Six of the 2007 season: "Sacred Texts in Context."

Campbell is impressed with his commitment to the future.

"One of the amazing things is that a man of his age is not thinking nostalgically about the old times, but is thinking ahead toward the shape of religious thinking in the future. This is more amazing than he knows," she said.

Written by Linda Berrey