Howe, Charles A., 1922-

Charles Alfred Howe (May 4, 1922-August 10, 2010) was a minister, theologian, advocate, scholar, and chemist. He was born in Utica, New York, received his AB from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, served in the Pacific theater at the end of World War II, and returned to Chapel Hill for an MA and PhD in chemistry. He worked for Merck & Co. before becoming interested in ministry.

In 1947 he married Ann Elizabeth Clark, a science educator and author. In 1964 the couple and their three children moved from Canton, New York to Chicago . Howe graduated from the Meadville/Lombard Theological Seminary with a B. Div in 1966 and was later awarded an honorary Doctorate of Divinity in 1996.

Howe served congregations in Austin, Texas, 1966-1970; Syracuse, New York (First Universalist), 1970-1983; Charlottesville, Virginia (interim), 1983-1984; New York City (Fourth Universalist, interim), 1984-1985; Gainesville, Florida (interim), 1985-1986; and Wilmington and Kinston, North Carolina, 1986-1989. He also worked with the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) and the Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association (UUMA) in a variety of capacities, includes membership on the UUA Commission of Appraisal, 1989-95 (chair, 1992-1994), and has taught courses in UU history and polity under the auspices of Meadville/Lombard Theological School, Wesley Theological Seminary, Duke Divinity School, and UU leadership schools.

Howe retired from the ministry in 1989, and moved in 1995 to Raleigh, North Carolina . He advocated for the end of the death penalty and participated in ministry to prisoners on death row.

Howe was the author of The Larger Faith (1993), For Faith and Freedom (1997), and numerous journal articles, as well as co-author and editor of Clarence R. Skinner: Prophet of a New Universalism (1999) and editor of The Essential Clarence Skinner (2004). In addition, he has edited two volumes of UUMA Selected Essays (1987, 1988) and three volumes of the John Murray Distinguished Lectures (1991, 1995, and 2004).