Biography / Administrative History
Douglas Glenn Adams was a much loved professor at Pacific School of Religion (PSR) and Graduate Theological Union who passed away in 2007 at the age of 62. He educated and inspired students, professors, and professionals in worship and the arts for over 30 years.
"We found Doug to be a man with much to say," writes Bruce Walter Barton on October 16, 1978. Over his career, Adams lectured and conducted workshops at over 800 churches and church conferences, both nationally and internationally. Humor and enthusiasm fill his work. His dissertation on Congregational Dancing is dated on April 1. He remarked on several occasions, "Christians should die laughing. Keep your best humor for your deathbed." (from "Early pulpit levity recalled; humor tears down man's idols," Phoenix Republic, June 29-30, 1974).
He was born in DeKalb, Illinois, in 1945. He received a BA from Duke University in 1967, a Bachelor in Divinity and MA from Pacific School of Religion in 1970, and a Doctorate in Theology from Graduate Theological Union in 1974. He was a Smithsonian Fellow in Art History during 1974-1975.
Prior to his teaching career, he served as pastor to two congregations: College Heights Church, United Church of Christ, San Mateo, 1970-1972; and Richmond Beach United Church of Christ, Seattle, Washington, summer pastor 1974.
Following the Smithsonian fellowship, he taught religious studies and American art at the University of Montana. In 1976 he became professor in worship and arts at Pacific School of Religion. His focus for the next 31 years was teaching students art and religion, sacred dance and to make worship lively.
Former PSR President William McKinney notes that Adams' best received books were Transcendence with the Human Body in Art: George Segal, Stephen De Staebler, Jasper Johns, and Christo (1991) and The Prostitute in the Family Tree: Discovering Humor and Irony in the Bible (1997). One of his final projects, a collection of essays on Stephen De Staebler's Winged Angel, entitled Space for Faiths, was published January 2011 as the 22:1 issue of arts: Arts in Religious and Theological Studies .
Adams wrote hundreds of articles and was featured in major newspapers on his favorite topics. According to McKinney, Adams' proudest achievement was founding the Center for the Arts, Religion and Education (CARE) in 1987, an affiliated center of the Graduate Theological Union, raising over $6 million.
Adams died of esophageal cancer on July 24, 2007. His wife Margo died in 2005.
For additional biographical information see Doug Adams: His Life and Work .
From the guide to the Douglas G. Adams collection, 1816-2007, 1945-2007, (The Graduate Theological Union. Library.)
