Famous students of divinity
“One man’s theology is another man’s belly laugh.” Scifi guy Robert Heinlein said it. Or so says QuoteDaddy.com.
Having studied a little divinity and chuckled a few times myself, I am often fascinated to find out so and so studied to be a priest, a pastor, for piety or out of pacifism.
Some famous folks profess to having given thought to wearing a clerical collar. Charles Darwin and Sting, for example. Others had clerical parents, which led them most decidedly away from divinity. Friedrich Nietzsche, I’m looking at you.
So here’s a quick and dirty list of notable students of divinity (know of others? let me know):
Tommy Douglas — father of Canadian healthcare, “Greatest Canadian,” and ordained Baptist minister.
Martin Luther King Jr. — The doctor was a PhD in systematic theology from Boston University!
John Long — American rock climber went to Claremont School of Theology.
Gram Parsons — Ur-Creator of Alt-Country music — studied divinity at Harvard for a semester.
Albert Schweitzer — musician, medical humanitarian, Nobel Peace prize winner — Theology PhD from Tubingen.
Joseph Stalin — kicked out of a Georgian Orthodox seminary for not paying his tuition.
Rudy Wiebe — Western Canadian Mennonite writer — studied at Tubingen for a year.
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