William H. "Bill" Jennings

William H. "Bill" Jennings September 14, 1934 - October 24, 2025 William H. "Bill" Jennings, 91 year old resident of Luther Crest Retirement Community in Allentown, PA, passed away on Friday October 24, 2025. Bill was born in Hartwell, Georgia, and grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina, but lived most of his life in Allentown, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Lenoir Rhyne University (BA) and Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary (BD), and then earned an MA and PhD in Christian Ethics from Yale University. Bill and Frances "Frankie" Jennings were married for 69 years and have two daughters, Cathy and Sherry, and a grandson, Joshua. Bill Jennings was a professor of religion at Susquehanna University (Selinsgrove, PA), Muhlenberg College (Allentown, PA), Fudan University (Shanghai, China), and Sheldon Jackson College (Sitka, Alaska). His own scholarship focused upon Christian ethics, medical ethics, and Asian and indigenous religions. He was dedicated to human equality and civil rights, and in the 1960s, he led his first North Carolina parish in sit-ins which formed part of the peaceful protests in support of greater racial equality in the South. This experience greatly influenced his writing and teaching. He later served on the Allentown Human Relations Commission and the Board of Planned Parenthood of the Lehigh Valley, and on numerous committees for the LCA. In the late 1970s, he was instrumental in sponsoring a number of Ugandan refugees in the Lehigh Valley. While a professor at Muhlenberg College, Bill developed a "Religion and Public Affairs" semester program in Washington DC that allowed students to undertake internships in our nation's capital. This later evolved into the Lutheran College Washington Semester (LCWS), currently operated by a consortium of thirteen Lutheran colleges and universities. Bill traveled extensively to locations often related to his research, including the USSR, Israel, China, Tibet, Thailand, and Japan, as well as Europe and the US. He loved architecture and woodworking, and had a strong interest in art and design. He created HO and Z gauge model train dioramas, and was a skilled woodworker who designed and built furniture. Most importantly, he was a wonderful person and a beloved husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle, and friend. He is dearly missed. In lieu of flowers, contributions to honor Bill Jennings may be made to The Marilyn S. Morgan Internship Fund at Muhlenberg College or to The Kayhart Arboretum at Luther Crest.