Scott, Nathan A., Jr. 1925-2006

(Nathan Alexander Scott, Jr.)

OBITUARY NOTICE— See index for CA sketch: Born April 24, 1925, in Cleveland, OH; died of lung cancer, December 20, 2006, in Charlottesville, VA. Priest, educator, and author. An Episcopalian priest and university professor, Scott combined humanities and theology to teach students about religious expression through literature. A 1944 graduate of the University of Michigan, he earned his master’s in divinity from Union Theological Seminary in 1946 and a Ph.D. from Columbia in 1949. Ordained in 1960, Scott combined church and university duties over his long career. He was an instructor at Howard University in the early 1950s, during which time he directed the general education program in the humanities for two years, and was on the Divinity School faculty at the University of Chicago from 1955 until 1976. The last part of his career was spent at the University of Virginia, where Scott chaired the department of religious studies. He retired in 1990. While at Chicago, Scott held the unique post of professor of theology and literature, leading an interdisciplinary program in which he taught students how spirituality can be fostered not only through the Bible but also by reading other literature. Conversely, as a canon theologian at Chicago’s Cathedral of St. James from 1966 to 1976, he frequently alluded to great works of literature in sermons he presented. The combination of interests was apparent in his publications. Scott wrote and edited over two dozen books, including Modern Literature and the Religious Frontier (1958), The Broken Center: Studies in the Theological Horizon of Modern Literature (1966), Mirrors of Man in Existentialism (1978), and Visions of Presence in Modern American Poetry (1993).

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Chicago Tribune, December 27, 2006, Section 3, p. 7.