Edmond La Beaume Cherbonnier

Cherbonnier, Edmond La Beaume born in St. Louis to Edward and Adelaide Cherbonnier on February 11, 1918, died peacefully of heart failure on March 7, 2017, surrounded by his family. A graduate of St. Louis Country Day School and Harvard College, he interrupted his graduate studies at Union Theological Seminary to serve his country during World War II as a naval aviator and instructor of instrument flying at Pensacola. After the war he received the degree of Bachelor of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary and was ordained a deacon by the Episcopal Bishop of Missouri. He was then awarded a Fiske Fellowship from Harvard to continue his theological studies at Trinity College, Cambridge (BA 1948 and MA 1952), and a Union Seminary Traveling Fellowship to study at the Universities of Strasbourg and Zurich. In 1951 he received his Ph.D. from Columbia University, with a doctorate entitled Freedom and Time. He taught briefly at Vassar and Barnard Colleges and served from 1952-55 as Deacon at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City; he was then invited by Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, to found their Department of Religion. His book Hardness of Heart was published as part of Reinhold Niebuhr's Christian Faith Series and discussed the doctrine of sin in contemporary terms. Many of his articles develop his view that the Bible contains its own philosophy, which he called Biblical Metaphysics. He is survived by his wife of 73 years Phyllis, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Park J. White of St. Louis, his sister Lesley Ann Knowles, his son Camden and his daughter-in-law Mary, his daughter Laurie, his son-in-law Chris Nielsen and four granddaughters. Services: A Graveside Committal Service will be conducted at Bellefontaine Cemetery, 4947 W. Florissant on Thursday, March 16, at 2:00 p.m. (Please meet inside cemetery entrance). A SERVICE OF THE LUPTON CHAPEL