04511
November 17, 2004

First woman named president of a U.S. Lutheran seminary

by Adelle M. Banks
Religion News Service

WASHINGTON — The newly named president of Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in Berkeley, CA, will be the first woman to lead a Lutheran seminary in the United States.

      The Rev. Phyllis B. Anderson will become the seventh president of the seminary, affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, on Feb. 1, 2005, the ELCA News Service reported.

      She succeeds the Rev. Timothy F. Lull, who died in May 2003 from complications following surgery. The interim president, the Rev. Ted F.  Peters, will continue his duties until Anderson begins.

      “The PLTS commitment to ecumenism, to diversity, to the spiritual experience of people in the American West, and to the mission of ELCA seminaries and congregations across the country will be truly enhanced by her leadership,” said the Rev. Steven L. McKinley, chair of the seminary’s board.

      Anderson began serving as the first director of the Institute for Ecumenical and Theological Studies in Seattle in 1998. She previously worked as a pastor in Iowa, director of pastoral studies at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, and director for theological studies in the ELCA’s Division for Ministry.

      “I am excited about the opportunity to lead this excellent seminary as it shapes Lutheran leaders for our time and place, marked by rapid change, diversity, secularity, spiritual longing and great human need,” she said.

Editor’s note: Three Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) seminaries are currently headed by women: McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago (the Rev. Cynthia Campbell), Columbia Thelogical Seminary in Decatur, GA (the Rev. Laura Mendenhall), and Auburn Theological Seminary in New York (Barbara Wheeler). — Jerry L. Van Marter