Yale Bulletin and Calendar

September 17, 2004|Volume 33, Number 3

Paul L. Holmer

Theologist Paul L. Holmer,
an authority on Kierkegaard

Paul Leroy Holmer, an authority on Kierkegaard and on philosophical theology who taught at Yale for 27 years, died June 29 in St. Paul, Minnesota. He was 87 years old.

Paul Holmer was the Noah Porter Professor Emeritus of Philosophical Theology at the Divinity School. He was the author of several books on Kierkegaard, including the two-volume "Kierkegaard's Edifying Discourses" and a translation of Sechi's "Nietzsche and Kierkegaard." His other publications include "Philosophy and the Common Life," "Theology and the Scientific Study of Religion," "Doubt & Frustration," "C.S. Lewis: The Shape of His Faith and Thought" and "The Grammar of Faith." He authored more than 100 articles in encyclopedias and scholarly journals.

Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Nov. 14, 1916, Professor Holmer received a B.A. from the University of Minnesota in 1940 and an M.A. there two years later. He earned his Ph.D. from Yale in 1946 and served as an instructor in philosophy from 1944 to 1946. During World War II, he also served as a translator in the national Office of War Information.

After teaching at Gustavus Adolphus College in 1946, Professor Holmer joined the faculty of the University of Minnesota, where he became a full professor in 1954. He remained there until his Yale appointment six years later.

Professor Holmer lectured widely across the United States, Canada and Europe. He was a visiting professor at numerous universities, including Northwestern University, Chicago Lutheran Seminary, Macalester College, the University of California at Santa Barbara and Princeton Seminary. He was a Fulbright Lecturer at the University of Copenhagen, the Carl Lund-Quist Lecturer at the University of Minnesota, the H. Richard Niebuhr Lecturer at Elmhurst College, the Snidow Lecturer for the Virginia Association of Liberal Arts Colleges, and the Oreon Scott Lecturer at Phillips University. He was a Guggenheim Fellow 1964-1965.

Professor Holmer served as treasurer of the Swenson-Kierkegaard Memorial Trust and was on the editorial boards of Dialog, Christian Scholar and several other magazines and journals. He was a member of the American Theological Society, the American Philosophical Association, the Metaphysical Society, the Lutheran Theological Society and the National Council on Religion in Higher Education. For his contributions to philosophical theology, Professor Holmer was awarded honorary degrees from several universities.

Professor Holmer is survived by his wife, Phyllis; a daughter, Linnea; two sons, Jonathan and Paul; and a sister, Joyce. Memorial contributions may be made to the Salem Covenant Church, St. Paul, 2655 N.W. 5th St., New Brighton, MN 55112; St. Anthony Park Lutheran Church, 2323 Como Ave., St. Paul, MN 55108; or to the Yale Divinity School Paul L. Holmer Scholarship Fund, c/o Development Office, 409 Prospect St., New Haven, CT 06511.

T H I SW E E K ' SS T O R I E S

Yale employee's new home is the result of . . .

Neurologist Lo wins Presidential Early Career Award

Exhibit explore mysteries of the giant squid

Series will introduce new World Fellows to Yale community

Levin reports improvements in U.S. visa procedures

Grant funds study exploring the link between . . .

Yale professor's watercolors featured in JE exhibit

Bruce Carmichael is appointed an assistant provost

In Focus: Department of Surgery

Renowned writer Norman Mailer to make campus appearance

Scholars will examine the iconic career of pop star . . .

Life is portrayed as a messy affair in Rep's 'Clean House'

Fast-paced opera 'thriller' will make its American debut at Yale

Yale to give matching grant of $100,000 . . .

2003-2004 Yale United Way Donors

Artist's paintings explore common human bonds

Conference to celebrate birth of the 'founder of humanism'

Researchers find that the media's science reporting is politically biased

Grants will support two ongoing preservation projects at Yale Library

President appoints search committee for next dean of the School of Nursing

Study: Drug aprotinin reduces risk of stroke . . .

Yale scientists bring quantum optics to a microchip

IN MEMORIAM