NCC GENERAL SECRETARY
The Rev. Dr. Robert W. Edgar
This article was written
in December 1999.
For the current, updated biography of Dr. Edgar, click
here.
An
optimist, a futurist and a coalition builder -- that's the Rev. Dr. Robert W. Edgar,
General Secretary of the National Council of Churches.
The NCC's General Assembly in
November 1999 unanimously elected the ordained United Methodist elder, Claremont School of
Theology President and former U.S. Representative to a five-year term in the NCC's top
staff post effective January 1, 2000.
As NCC General Secretary, a
salaried position equivalent to that of chief executive officer, Dr. Edgar heads the
nation's leading ecumenical organization, with headquarters in New York City Through the NCC, 35 Protestant and Orthodox member communions
(denominations) engage together in witness, service
and the search for greater Christian unity.
He takes the Council's helm at a
veritable "kairos" moment of crisis and opportunity in the NCC's life -- a time
of rebuilding from financial and organizational crisis and at the same time of building
upon a 50-year legacy of witness and service as the NCC moves into the 21st century.
Bob Edgar expressed his confidence
in the reservoir of "goodwill nationally and internationally to see organizations
like the NCC achieve," and said, "I am a person who can help institutions
re-envision themselves. I have no issue with the history of the NCC but like all
bureaucracies or institutions, simply by nature of how institutions and organizations
work, they often need renewal and refreshment."
The NCC's current fiscal challenge
"clouds people's remembrance of the great things it has done, and makes fuzzy any
vision of the future," he continued. "I may be able to look more clearly at
seeing the opportunities of the future, asking what systemic changes can be made where the
NCC can be more effective, more connected and more able to leverage its power at the local
and regional level for the good of the church, to do for the member communions what they
are finding it difficult to do for themselves, to care for needs of people, love neighbor
and enemy, seek justice and improve the quality of life on the planet."
Clearly, Dr. Edgar's achievements
during his decade-long tenure as President of Claremont School of Theology, Claremont,
Calif., caught the NCC's eye as it sought its new general secretary in anticipation of the
Rev. Dr. Joan B. Campbell's retirement Dec. 31, 1999, after nine years in that post.
"When I came to Claremont (in
1990)," Dr. Edgar said, "it was just a hiccup away from going out of business. I
led in changing the spirit and image of the school around, and now people see it as a
model of how to salvage institutions in financial distress."
During this past decade-plus of
redevelopment and growth, Claremont has become what Dr. Edgar describes as "the most
ecumenical of the Methodist seminaries." Theological schools of five
denominations—Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the Episcopal Church, the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the United
Methodist Church—now share the campus, and more than 30 denominations send students
to the school. "We think we do a better-than-adequate job educating Christians for
leadership positions in the church," he said.
Whole Ministry
"Interdenominational and Bipartisan"
Dr. Edgar's whole ministry has been
"interdenominational and bipartisan," he said, and "my whole life reflects
an ecumenical spirit, doing the unexpected, winning the unwinnable race."
In 1974, he was the first Democrat
in more than 120 years to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from his heavily
Republican district, Pennsylvania's Seventh District. "I got elected as a 'Watergate
baby,'" he said, "was re-elected five additional times, then voluntarily stepped
down in 1987 from the House because I believe in term limits."
As it happens, the NCC's President
for 2000-2001 is Ambassador Andrew Young, with whom Dr. Edgar served overlapping terms in
Congress. They participated together in the Clergy Caucus, which Ambassador Young
founded. (NCC President, a non-salaried post, is nevertheless an important position
of shared leadership with the General Secretary.)
Dr. Edgar ran for a U.S. Senate
seat in 1986, won the primary despite the fact that he was not his party's endorsed
nominee, but lost the election. In spring 1987, as Eugene Lang Visiting Professor for
Social Change, he taught a course on the "Politics of the Future" at Swarthmore
(Pa.) College. From 1987-88, he served as finance director for Sen. Paul Simon's
presidential campaign, and from 1988-90 was Director of the Committee for National
Security in Washington, D.C., a national private "think tank."
"I've done a lot of work with
Paul Simon and his brother, Art, former head of Bread for the World, on food and hunger
issues, and on environmental issues," Dr. Edgar said. While in the U.S. Congress, he
led efforts to improve public transportation, authored the Community Right to Know
provisions of Super Fund legislation, fought wasteful water projects and supported
environmental goals.
He also served as chair of the
Congressional Clearinghouse on the Future (1982-86) and as a member of the Select
Committee on Assassinations (1976-78), which investigated the deaths of Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr., and President John F. Kennedy. He also served the House Veterans' Affairs
Committee and its Subcommittees on Hospitals and Health and on Education, where he
co-authored the new GI bill for the all-volunteer service.
Before he was elected to the U.S.
Congress, Dr. Edgar was the United Protestant Chaplain at Philadelphia's Drexel University
(1971-74) and, from 1972-74, served concurrently as associate pastor at Lansdowne (Pa.)
United Methodist Church. During that period he co-founded the People's Emergency Center,
Philadelphia's first shelter for women and children, a project that became a national
model.
Earlier he was pastor of several
United Methodist churches in Pennsylvania. Born May 29, 1943, he received the master of
divinity degree from the Theological School of Drew University, Madison, N.J., and the
bachelor of arts degree in history and religion from Lycoming College, Williamsport, Pa.
A member of Claremont United
Methodist Church in Claremont, Calif., he is a member of the United Methodist University
Senate and serves on the General Commission on Communications of the United Methodist
Church, both based in Nashville. He also is a member of the board of directors of Pacific
Media Ministry in San Diego, Calif., and serves on the Advisory Board of the Skirball
Institute for American Values in Los Angeles.
The Very Rev. Leonid Kishkovsky
(Orthodox Church in America), chair of the NCC search committee for general secretary,
commented that Dr. Edgar's "fresh leadership will be a gift. Moreover, he brings a
passionate yet lucid commitment to social justice."
As he anticipates new challenges as
the NCC's general secretary, Dr. Edgar said, "My background of 12 years in politics
gives me connections with the political and activist elements across the country. My
service in higher education brings me in touch with the academic community. I spent
several years in the peace and justice community. As a young seminarian, I met Martin
Luther King, Jr., and am passionate about civil rights and human rights."
"At the local level, the
ecumenical movement is alive and well. People break a common bread and share a common cup,
they exchange among traditions, they are interested in a spirituality that doesn't
necessarily have a label. As an optimist, I see a great opportunity to connect to that
local passion from a national level and find ways to really make a difference. I look
forward to working with a lot of people at a variety of levels on what are the local
handles for finding ways for the NCC to be helpful and appropriate in shaping the
ecumenical vision for the future. Organizing 35 communions and the people in them to take
seriously the covenants of the Old and New Testaments is a challenge I'm ready to take
on."
This article was written in December 1999.
For the current, updated biography of Dr. Edgar, click here.
To read Dr. Edgar's
welcome to the NCC Web Site, click here
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