Shirley Guthrie

News Obituary Article

AVONDALE ESTATES: Shirley Guthrie, 77, voice for love, justice

By JOHN BLAKE

When the Presbyterian Church (USA) was locked in a ferocious debate over a proposal to ban the church's blessing of same-sex unions, Atlanta theologian Shirley Guthrie was invited to mediate.

Mr. Guthrie stunned supporters and opponents of the proposed ban at a 2001 meeting when he suggested that God was no longer listening to either side.

"You've got self-righteous people on all sides arguing with other self-righteous people," Mr. Guthrie said. "Maybe God is saying 'no' to what we are and these little trivial debates we're having in the church while hundreds of thousands of people are starving to death."

Colleagues said Mr. Guthrie always brought questions back to the core of the Christian faith: love and justice.

"The teaching of his faith matched the living of his faith," said Walter Brueggeman of Decatur, an internationally known Old Testament scholar.

Shirley C. Guthrie, 77, died Saturday of cancer at his Avondale Estates home. The body will be cremated. A reception will be 7 p.m. Tuesday at Columbia Theological Seminary. The memorial service is 2 p.m. Wednesday at Trinity Presbyterian Church. Cremation Society of the South is handling arrangements.

Mr. Guthrie taught theology at Columbia in Decatur from 1958 to 1997. His 1968 book "Christian Doctrine" has become a seminary standard.

"The brilliance of the book is that he took Christian faith and theology and made it understandable to people who didn't have theological education," said George Stroup of Decatur, a colleague at Columbia for 25 years.

Mr. Guthrie's teachings refuted the notion of God as an all-powerful, avenging deity. He constantly stressed the need for human beings to exhibit forgiveness. "God," he often said, "isn't out to get anybody."

As a "reformed theologian," Mr. Guthrie didn't believe in a static God. He saw God as a verb --- a living deity constantly reforming the world. He publicly supported the ordination of gays and lesbians. He built bridges to people of other faiths, as well as to Latin-American, feminist and African-American theologies, Mr. Stroup said. "His understanding of Christian faith is to believe in a God that is always larger than our theology," Mr. Stroup said.

In the classroom, he would illustrate points by standing in place and extending his leg like a flamingo. Sometimes he would sit cross-legged on the floor. He was constantly jangling the coins in his pocket.

Mr. Stroup said that when Mr. Guthrie rose to prominence in the male-dominated field of theology in the 1960s, he got a kick out of other theologians thinking he was a feminist theologian. He got his first name from his father, a Presbyterian minister also named Shirley.

"Theologians are known for being a little on the arrogant side, but Shirley always taught with enormous humility," Mr. Stroup said. "When students would argue with him, he would say this is only my opinion and you could do with it what you want."

Mr. Guthrie could have invoked some impressive theological credentials if he had wanted. He earned a doctorate from the University of Basel in Switzerland, where he wrote his dissertation under the direction of Karl Barth, one of the 20th century's top theologians.

"He said he was so nervous in front of Barth that he was afraid to speak," Mr. Stroup said. "But Barth apparently took a liking to him. When he made his only trip to the United States in 1961, he had Guthrie translate for him."

In a church becoming engulfed by culture wars, Mr. Guthrie said it was important to transcend labels. "Sometimes both sides are wrong," he said in the middle of the debate on same-sex unions. Taking a firm stance "doesn't mean I have to hate, despise or have nothing to do" with people of different views, he said.

Survivors include his wife, Vivian Hays Guthrie; a son, Tom Guthrie of Chicago; a brother, Allen Guthrie of Coahoma, Texas; and a sister, Janet Sims of McKinney, Texas.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests contributions to the Shirley Guthrie Memorial Fund, Gift Box 325, Columbia Theological Seminary, P.O. Box 520, Decatur, GA 30031.

© 2004 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution