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Pastor-Scholar Honors Professor-Mentors
P
ittsburgh Seminary alums will often tell you that their time
“Under Dr. Battles’
here was shaped by the professors who taught and mentored
instruction, Calvin
them—professors known not only for their academic
became alive, and under
accomplishments, but also for the personal interest they
Marion, the writings of
take in their students. Dr. Walter Ellis, who received his Ph.D. in 1974
[Scottish theologian]
through the Pittsburgh Seminary/University of Pittsburgh cooperative
P. T. Forsyth,” he says.
Ph.D. program, looks back on a PTS professor-couple who exemplified
Marion Davis Battles was
that kind of mentoring relationship for him. To honor them, in April
herself a gifted woman—
2013 he established the Ford Lewis Battles and Marion Davis Battles
summa cum laude and
Endowment Fund at Pittsburgh Seminary.
Phi Beta Kappa at Tufts, followed by a master’s
Dr. Ford Battles (pictured right), a Rhodes Scholar and respected
from Fletcher School of
academic, is best known for his study and translations of writings by
Law and Diplomacy with
leaders of the Protestant Reformation—most notably, his translation
honors; a participant
of Calvin’s Institutes. But it was the Battles’ teaching and mentoring at
in the International
Pittsburgh Seminary that forever shaped Dr. Ellis’s life and ministry, as
Communities of Calvin
well as their warm welcome of then-student Ellis into their home. “Ford
Scholars and in the
and Marion Battles, with their daughters Nancy and Emily, soon became
charter meetings of the United Nations at the close of World War II,
not only my teachers, but also some of my closest friends. The doors to
where she specialized in human rights for prisoners of war; translator/
“The Battles’ unique combination of academic excellence and balanced scholarship, personal faith commitment, and care for students is rare, and their legacy and influence will endure long after writings that reflect the ‘flavor of the day’ are forgotten.”
their studies and to their
editor of a work on the primacy of the Gospels titled “The Fruit of
home were always open to
Lips”; and an accomplished pianist.
their students,” he recalls. “The Battles’ unique combination of academic excellence and balanced “In 1969, when I was
scholarship, personal faith commitment, and care for students is
seeking to pursue my
rare, and their legacy and influence will endure long after writings
interest in Reformation
that reflect the ‘flavor of the day’ are forgotten. My gratitude to the
studies and North
Battles—and to the Seminary for what, in retrospect, were the happiest
American church history,
years of my life—has never wavered. I am grateful to have had the
a professor at Vancouver
opportunity of honoring them through a scholarship that encourages
Theological Seminary
academic excellence in the areas of Reformed and North American
put me in touch with
history and theology,” Dr. Ellis notes.
Ford Battles, professor of church history and history
Seeking to “fill the Reformation model of the pastor-scholar,” Canadian
of doctrine. The ‘Hartford
citizen Dr. Walter Ellis taught occasional courses at Pacific Lutheran and
exiles’—Dr. Battles, Dr.
Trinity Western universities while also filling consecutive pastorates from
Robert Paul, and Dr. Dikran
1974-1991 at First Baptist Church, Tacoma, Wash.; Westmount Baptist
Hadidian—had all just
Church, Montreal, Quebec; and Fairview Baptist Church, Vancouver,
moved to Pittsburgh from
British Columbia.
Hartford [Seminary]. At that time Dr. Bob Doherty, an expert in collective biographical history, was teaching at the University of Pittsburgh, so the new cooperative Ph.D. program in religion, which Dr. Battles was influential in launching, was a perfect fit for my interest in Baptist history, sociology, and theology.”
Panorama
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