Back in 1960 I had the opportunity to hear Paul Tillich lecture and meet Reinhold Niebuhr. Tillich’s lecture was at Unitarian Church of All Souls. His topic was “Religious Existentialism”, and the place was packed. Tillich began, with a heavy German accent, in this wise: “I want to begin with a very paradoxical statement. There is no such thing as Religious Existentialism because there is ONLY religious existentialism!”. From there speaking without notes he went on to explain that because existentialism raises all the basic questions about the meaning of life and death it cannot avoid being religious in nature.
Tillich spoke with a very heavy accent and with a great deal of energy. He traced back through the thoughts of such thinkers as Nietzsche and Kierkegaard, as well as through the poetry of Rilke and the paintings of Picasso. From what I could tell he was not working from a written manuscript but was speaking extemporaneously as “the spirit moved him”. During the question-and-answer time after the lecture Tillich fielded numerous questions from the audience, filtered through the master of Ceremonies, adeptly and interestingly. He moved around the stage with great energy and verve even though he was in his eighties at the time.
I must say that I really enjoyed seeing Tillich perform – and I think he was for the large part on the money. It’s when he waxes more philosophical that I begin to have questions about his understanding of such notions as truth, meaning, and God that I find myself asking serious questions. I have written a few articles about his thought in religious journals. I think one of them actually helped me get my job at Eckerd College back in the day. In spite of all the stories one hears about his political and personal life, he was certainly a thinker to be dealt with and a delight to witness.
When I was a graduate student in philosophy at the University of Washington, I wrote my Master’s Thesis on the thought of Reinhold Niebuhr and later published a reduced version of it in a major theological journal. So, when I saw that he was going to give a lecture at the little church across the street from Union Theological Seminary I thought it would be a real honor to meet him. There were only about 50 of us gathered in the little church that morning. After the first speaker had finished, we took a short break. But when it was time to resume the Master of Ceremonies seemed to have disappeared.
So, Professor Niebuhr walked up to the podium, and without any formal introduction he said: “My name is Reinhold Niebuhr and I have been asked to speak to you about the given topic, so we might as well begin”. After his talk, the topic of which I do not recall, I waited around for a chance to meet him. Finally, as he was putting on his coat to leave, I addressed him: “Professor Niebuhr, I wrote my Master’s thesis on an aspect of your thought and I wonder if you would read it and tear it up for me.” At the very mention of the words “Tear it up” he quickly brought his finger to his lips and said: “Oh, I would never do that.” After I had blurted out my apology for misspeaking Professor Niebuhr said he would be glad to read my paper.
About a month after I had sent the paper to him Professor Niebuhr sent me a postcard on which he had typed his response to my thoughts. He very kindly said that I had got his view correctly, except for one small matter, which he then briefly explained. His signature was scrawly because he had had a stroke the previous year. Of course, I took his remarks to heart and wrote him a “Thank you” note. What impressed me the most about our brief encounter was the quickness and nature of his reply to my remark about his “tearing up” my thesis. He sort of gasped when he said “Oh, I would never do that.” I shall never forget the sincerity and quickness of his response.

When I was a boy, my mother visited NYC two or three times and ever since then it has been a mysterious mecca for me. I finally went to NYC in the fall of 1957 to study at the Biblical Seminary of New York. For the first two years I commuted on the Long Island Railroad. We lived and worked at the Stoney Brook Preparatory School in Stony Brook Long Island. Learning about the Long Island Railroad system first hand was a rather tricky and initially a somewhat scary experience. The train ride took one and half hours each way, and the subway added another half hour. I caught the 6:20 train in the morning and barely made my 8:30 class.
Several times I got confused about which way I was supposed to go, but other travelers quickly set me straight. The signing system was often abbreviated and the doorways and ticket systems were not always clearly marked. The first time through the turnstile I put the coin in the lefthand side rather than the righthand side, and really hurt my leg trying to force my way through the turnstile. The man behind me, fortunately, put another coin in for me and showed me what I done wrong. There were several levels of platforms and you had to be sure to get the right one.
I studied on the way into the City, but was usually too tired to study much on the return trip. When the weather changed toward winter, the trip was much colder and the walking was slippery. The first real snow storm forced me to stay home for a couple of days. We were doing this adventure on a shoestring, so I never had any money to spare. I brought a sack lunch and ate it on the subway going home. People starred at me as I ate. Everyone stayed to themselves as we rode and it was too noisy for any conversation. I never saw anyone picking on anyone else, but everyone was always in a great hurry.
For my last year of Seminary we obtained an apartment on the six-floor walk-up building the seminary had recently acquired. It had several rooms in addition to the bathroom, and something of a view of the Chrysler Building and the nearby United Nations Buildings. We had little money, but found that in the summer we could sit through two showings of a double feature at the nearby air-conditioned movie theater. We also found a YMCA which had a free swimming pool. There was a supermarket just two blocks away. It was nice there.
We visited the United Nations a few times, and went skating at Rockefeller Plaza twice. We even went to see the Rockettes at Radio Center Music Hall. Most of the time however, I went to classes next door during the day and studied at home in the evening. For me the biggest “extra” thrill was the chance to see the New York Knicks play basketball against the Boston Celtics at Madison Square Garden. Sometimes the Broadway Theaters would drop off free tickets at the front desk for their current shows. We got to see Sidney Poitier in “Raisin in the Sun.”
Katherine Hepburn had a home directly across from the Seminary and one day as I walked out of the Seminary, there she was putting things into her car. I took a chance and walked across the street to tell her how we very much enjoyed her work. She looked directly at me and said: “Thank you very much.” Then she went back to packing her car. When she drove away, I saw that her Connecticut License plate read KH1.
In some ways my biggest thrill about that last year in NYC was that I got a chance to broad jump in the famous Milrose games in Madison Square Garden. I had been something of a track star in college and a friend of mine at the Stony Brook School had been a real star on the NYU track team, and since his club, The New York Athletic Club did not have a long jumper he arranged for me to jump in the Milrose Games for the New York Athletic Club. I did not do much but I was not last. It was a great experience walking around on the Garden’s indoor track before 8,000 people and watching the real stars do their stuff.
I have always held a special place in my heart for NYC because of those years, we spent living in New York, especially for the last one which we spent in the City. During my last year of seminary, I served as Interim Pastor for a church which was located just ten blocks from the seminary. It was a Swedish Covenant congregation and the people were extremely kind to me and my young family. I preached my way through the Bible for that year and like to think I was of some real help to some of the folks. It was a wonderful year that we spent living and working in NYC