Hugh Thomson

Kerr Chair of Pastoral Theology: The Rev. Dr. L. Roger Owens

The Rev. Dr. Hugh Thomson Kerr was born in 1871 in Canada. He earned his B.A. and M.A. from the University of Toronto, graduated from Western Theological Seminary in 1897, and was ordained by the Pittsburgh Presbytery. He served pastorates in Pittsburgh, Kansas, and Chicago and then returned to Pittsburgh to become pastor of Shadyside Presbyterian Church, where he served from 1913 to 1945. Hugh was a member of the board of directors at Western Theological Seminary and a Pittsburgh Seminary guest professor in homiletics from 1947 to 1950.

The first minister to preach over the radio, many of his sermons were published by Shadyside Presbyterian Church and are cataloged in the Barbour Library at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.

Mable Lindsay Gillespie endowed this chair in 1958, eight years after Hugh’s death. The late Rev. Dr. Gordon E. Jackson was installed to the chair in 1961 as its first occupant, and in 1995 the Rev. Dr. Andrew Purves, Jean and Nancy Davis Professor Emeritus of Historical Theology, was named as its second occupant.

The Rev. Dr. L. Roger Owens received his Ph.D. in theology from Duke University where he was awarded a Lilly Fellowship for the Formation of a Learned Clergy. Before that he completed his M.Div. at Duke Divinity School. As an undergraduate he studied philosophy and Bible/ religion at Anderson University in Indiana. Dr. Owens is a Minister urban and rural churches for eight years before coming to PTS. Dr. Owens has published several books, the most recent being Everyday Contemplative: The Way of Prayerful Living (Upper Room, 2022). He has preached and lectured across the country, and his work has appeared in The Christian Century, Currents in Theology and Mission, The Journal of Religious Ethics, New Blackfriars, and elsewhere. Dr. Owens serves on the faculty for the Upper Room’s Academy for Spiritual Formation, where he lectures on the history and practice of Christian spirituality.

On Oct. 25, 2022, Dr. Owens presented his lecture, “The Good Enough Pastor? Reimagining Pastoral Excellence for a PostPandemic Church.” The lecture explored questions of excellence pastors and churches have been asking for two decades. Dr. Owens argued that “excellence” is still an appropriate way to think about ministry, but that the rapid changes in church and culture over the last 20 years—and especially since the beginning of the pandemic— require us to think differently about excellence. Maybe now, to be an excellent pastor means to be good enough, which is harder—and more beautiful—than we might at first imagine.

Henry L. Hillman Chair in Urban Ministry: The Rev. Dr. R. Drew Smith

Henry and Elsie Hillman were known as leaders and philanthropists. Henry was a graduate of Princeton University. Founder of The Hillman Company and Hillman Foundation, he served as a director for a number of corporations throughout the country in addition to his philanthropic pursuits. Elsie was also a nationally recognized philanthropist. The Pittsburgh community in particular has been enriched many times by the Hillmans’ sensitivity to its needs. They were members of Calvary Episcopal Church. In 2005 the Seminary gave the Hillmans the John Anderson Award of Merit, the highest honor bestowed by PTS, in recognition of their service and contributions to the Seminary community. In 1998, the Rev. Dr.

Ronald E. Peters was installed to the chair as its first occupant.

The Rev. Dr. R. Drew Smith has initiated and directed a number of projects related to religion and public life which have collected research data on political involvements, community development activities, and outreach ministries of churches, especially African American churches. His research grants have totaled almost $2.5 million, and his two current projects at PTS focus on gentrification, race, and theological education and COVID-19’s impact on Black and Latinx communities in metro-Pittsburgh. He has served since 2010 as co-convener of the Transatlantic Roundtable on Religion and Race, an initiative that convenes scholars, religious leaders, and community activists from across the transatlantic region for purposes of advancing progressive approaches to persistent racial problems in various contexts. From 2020 to 2022, Dr. Smith also served as director of the Seminary’s Metro-Urban Institute, for which he now serves as senior research fellow. Dr. Smith has published widely on religion and public life, having written numerous articles and chapters, and edited or coedited 10 books, including his most recent Racialized Health, COVID-19, and Religious Responses: Black Atlantic Contexts and Perspectives (Routledge, 2022). Dr. Smith earned his undergraduate degree from Indiana University, and his master of divinity, master of arts, and Ph.D. from Yale University.

On March 22, 2022, Dr. Smith presented his lecture, “Urban Imaginaries and Sacredness of Place: Race, Neighborhood Province, and Socio-Religious Vantage Points.” The lecture explored faith-sector and academicsector presence within urban neighborhoods and the vantage points from which they perceive these contexts and imagine possibilities for community. “I view these sectors as potentially strategic in giving voice to what has been fractured within urban spaces and in imagining paths toward community flourishing and wholeness,” Dr. Smith says.

During the annual Alumnae/i Days 2022, the Seminary honored four alums for their many years of distinguished work in the areas of mission, specialized ministry, pastoral ministry, and academia, respectively. We also recognized a fifth graduate with The Fred McFeely Rogers Award for Creative Ministry. Read about these outstanding alums on the following pages.