John C. Bennett, Class of 1924

The titles of your dozen books, and of Christianity and Crisis, the journal you co-founded and edited, underline the conclusion of the Washington Post that you had “spent more than a half-century defining, on a global scale, the implications of the … mandate to love one’s neighbor.” That effort has also been an ecumenical one, from your work in the 1930’s with the Oxford Conference on the Church, Community, and State, and your deep involvement with the National and World Council of Churches, to your heading in 1966 of the Geneva Conference on Church and Society, your work as trustee of the Council on Religion and International Affairs, and your presidency of the American Theological Association and the American Society of Christian Social Ethics.  But perhaps your greatest influence on church and world affairs has been mediated via the hundreds of students educated at Union Theological Seminary during your time there as teacher from 1927, as dean of the faculty from 1955, and finally as president, from 1963 to 1970.  “History will surely rank him,” the Washington Post concluded, “as one of the giants of Christian thought inhis generation.” In recognition of your distinguished achievement in the field of theological education, Williams College is proud to honor you with its Bicentennial Medal.