Dr. Franklin Sherman

1928 - 2021

Dr. Franklin Sherman died Aug. 31 at age 93 at Kirkland Village in Bethlehem. Born in New York City on Aug. 15, 1928, the son of Helen Holben, nee Hazard, he grew up in Allentown and was valedictorian of the Allentown High School Class of 1945. Sherman attended Muhlenberg College, graduating in 1949, and the Divinity School of the University of Chicago, receiving an M.A. in 1951 and a Ph.D. in 1961. In the early 1950s, he served as pastor of Advent Lutheran Church in Chicago, and from 1958 to 1961, he taught in the Religious Studies Department at the University of Iowa.

Sherman then accepted an invitation from the Lutheran World Federation to teach at Mansfield College in Oxford, England, serving theological students in exile from Europe. In 1966, he became Professor of Christian Ethics at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, where he taught for 23 years, including 10 years as Dean of Faculty. He was a visiting professor at institutions in Switzerland, Israel, Zimbabwe, and Japan. And in 1989, he became founding director of the Institute for Jewish-Christian Understanding at Muhlenberg College, where he served until 1996, including consulting with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in its 1994 declaration renouncing the antisemitic writings of Martin Luther.

He was a lifelong tennis player, a regular attendee at the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, N.Y., and a long-time member of the Lutheran Church of the Holy Spirit in Emmaus.

In 1953, he married Joan Margery Kendall of Buffalo, N.Y. Following her death in 2006, he shared a 10-year marriage with Loreen Stout of Schnecksville.

Sherman is survived by his children, Mark Sherman of Takoma Park, Md., David Sherman of Talent, Ore., and Leslie Sherman of Wilmington, Del., and his grandchildren Evelyn, Simon, Charlie, and June.

A memorial service will be held at the Lutheran Church of the Holy Spirit, 3461 S. Cedar Crest Blvd., Emmaus Pa. at 3:00 p.m. on Sat. September 11th. In lieu of flowers, cards of remembrance can be sent to Leslie at 119 South Road, Wilmington DE 19809.

Arrangements by Nicos C. Elias Funeral Home.