Martin E. Marty, ‘most influential interpreter of religion’ in U.S., 1928-2025

Throughout his distinguished career, University of Chicago Prof. Emeritus and the Rev. Dr. Martin E. Marty was one of the country’s foremost theologians and religious historians—a renowned public intellectual who shaped conversations about religion’s role in contemporary culture.

Marty, the Fairfax M. Cone Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of the History of Modern Christianity, died Feb. 25 at age 97. A UChicago alum and faculty member of UChicago’s Divinity School for 35 years, Marty, PhD’56, is being remembered as a groundbreaking scholar and devoted teacher, whose academic discourse and mentorship influenced generations of scholars and students. 

Marty in an undated photo

Photo copyright Chicago Maroon

Marty’s interpretation of Protestantism and fundamentalism in the U.S. still frame the view of modern American religion. At the height of his influence, he was described by historian L. Benjamin Rolsky as “arguably the public intellectual of the 1980s.” Biographer Grant Wacker suggested Marty deserved a place alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Billy Graham and Jonathan Edwards on the “Mount Rushmore of American religious history”; Time magazine once called him the “most influential interpreter of religion” in the United States.

“For 35 years, Martin Marty was a cornerstone of the Divinity School, shaping the study of religion and public life with his visionary scholarship and steadfast commitment to teaching,” said Prof. James T. Robinson, dean of the Divinity School. “His voice, always measured and profound, guided critical conversations on religion, and his work explored the intersections of faith, culture, and society. He left an indelible mark on the field of religious studies.”

Marty’s contributions extended far beyond academia. A practicing pastor, he marched for civil rights in Selma with Dr. King, served as a Protestant observer at the Second Vatican Council, and was a trusted advisor to public figures seeking his wisdom on matters of faith and society.

Influential scholar and mentor

Born Feb. 5, 1928, in West Point, Nebraska, Marty studied at Concordia Seminary and Chicago Lutheran Theological Seminary before earning his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago Divinity School in 1956. His dissertation, “The Uses of Infidelity: Changing Images of Freethought Opposition to American Churches,” signaled the start of an academic career marked by rigorous inquiry and public engagement.

Marty was appointed the founding pastor of the Lutheran Church of the Holy Spirit in the newly incorporated Elk Grove Village, a suburb of Chicago in 1958. In 1962, Life magazine named Marty one of “One Hundred of the Most Important Young Men and Women in the United States,” dubbing him part of the “Take-over Generation.” The magazine described him as “a penetrating, outspoken critic of suburban church life in America,” noting his role as associate editor of Christian Century and pastor of the fastest-growing Lutheran parish in the country.

In 1963, Marty joined the faculty of the Divinity School. Over the next three decades, he wrote more than 50 books and 5,000 articles, essays, reviews, and papers; and served as editor of the newsletter Context and senior editor for The Christian Century. His most influential scholarship included the National Book Award-winning Righteous Empire: The Protestant Experience in America (1972), as well as dozens of influential works such as A Cry of Absence (1983), Pilgrims in Their Own Land (1984), and the three-volume Modern American Religion (1986–96).

“I was privileged to know Marty—first as a student, then as a colleague and ultimately as a dear friend,” said Richard Rosengarten, AM’88, PhD’94, Associate Professor of Religion and Literature at the Divinity School. “Throughout Marty treated me as his equal, which was at once characteristically generous and utterly incongruous. To me he was, always, a teacher: remarkable for the breadth and depth of his knowledge, unfailingly interesting, generous, and generative in his attention. I’ve learned a modest fraction of what he made available, yet it is an enormous gift.” 

Among his most significant scholarly achievements was the six-year “Fundamentalism Project” (1988–94), which he co-directed with his former advisee R. Scott Appleby. Funded by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the MacArthur Foundation, this international project examined the role of conservative religious movements in societies worldwide, expanding Marty’s focus beyond the American context to global interfaith concerns. The project resulted in five pioneering volumes of case studies and analytical essays that quickly became the standard works in comparative political religion.

“Only an intellectual giant with Marty’s combination of multidisciplinary fluency and vast erudition could have foreseen the inbreaking of wave upon wave of modern anti-pluralist, anti-modernist assaults upon the liberal worldviews and institutions from the ‘benighted’ margins of Western and Westernized societies,” said Appleby, AM’79, PhD’85, the Keough Hesburgh Professor of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame. “In taking on such a massive comparative project with ideological pitfalls to the left and the right, Marty stayed true to his instincts to come ‘not to condemn, not to praise, but to understand.’ The result was a milestone in the study of the history of religions and secularities.”    

Marty was also a devoted mentor to UChicago students, including Appleby. Over his 35-year tenure, he supervised or co-supervised 115 dissertations. 

Speaking to the University of Chicago Magazine in 1998 about how he’d like to be remembered, Marty said: “That I was a good teacher. That’s been my great joy, where I’ve always gotten the most pleasure.” He went on to explain: “I take more pleasure in the fact that there are more than 100 people I was thesis adviser to, more pleasure in a new book by [former students] than one of my own.”

Beyond academia

Marty’s accomplishments earned numerous accolades, including the National Humanities Medal, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Medal, the University of Chicago Alumni Medal, and the Distinguished Service Medal of the Association of Theological Schools. He received 80 honorary doctorates and, in 1998, was awarded the Order of Lincoln in Religion by the governor of Illinois. In recognition of his impact, the American Academy of Religion established the Martin E. Marty Award for the Public Understanding of Religion in 1996. 

Martin Marty speaks at a 2015 event celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Divinity School.

Photo by Anthony Barlich

He retired in 1998 on his 70th birthday. The Divinity School honored him by naming the research center he founded in 1979 as the Martin Marty Center for the Public Understanding of Religion, which brings scholarly perspectives to bear on religious questions facing the wider public.

Marty’s scholarship and influence continued well past retirement. He wrote a weekly column for the Marty Center’s newsletter Sightings, and continued to speak to the public and the media about religion.

The Chicago Sun-Times recently wrote about Marty’s impact, pointing to division within the country after the 2024 election, urging readers to “be a Martin Marty, not a Billy Graham.”

“Nothing is more important than to keep the richness of our pluralism alive,” the article quoted Marty as saying. “To be aware of many different people and different ways, and deal with it.”

In 1952, Marty married Elsa Schumacher, the year he graduated from seminary. Together, they raised four children and two permanent foster children and enjoyed family camping trips across the country, Canada, Mexico, and Europe. She died in September 1981 from brain cancer—a 10-month struggle that became the subject of Marty’s memoir A Cry of Absence: Reflections for the Winter of the Heart. 

Marty later married Harriet J. Meyer in 1982. 

Marty is survived by his wife Harriet; sons Joel (Susie), John (Connie), Peter (Susan), and Micah; lifetime foster daughter Fran Garcia Carlson and lifetime foster son Jeff Garcia; stepdaughter Ursula Meyer (Jamie Newcomb); nine grandchildren; 18 great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces, nephews, friends, and admirers. In addition to his parents and wife, Elsa, he was preceded in death by his sister Mildred Burger and brother Myron Marty.  

A campus memorial service will be held at a later date.

— This article includes material adapted from the University of Chicago Magazine.