The Rev. Daniel A. Westberg, professor of ethics and moral theology at Nashotah House since 2000, died Oct. 18 in a boating accident on Upper Nashotah Lake. He was 68.
“The Rev. Dr. Daniel Westberg was a faithful priest of the Diocese of Milwaukee whose gifts as a teacher were a blessing to us all,” said the Rt. Rev. Steven A. Miller, Bishop of Milwaukee. “Our hearts and prayers go out to his wife, Lisa, their family, and the community of Nashotah House at this sad time. We pray that Dan will go from strength to strength in God’s perfect kingdom.”
Born in Chicago to parents who were missionaries with the Evangelical Covenant Church, Westberg grew up in Japan. He became an Anglican during graduate medieval studies at the University of Toronto and served as a priest of the Anglican Church of Canada for 10 years. He was received into the priesthood of the Episcopal Church in 2001.
His degrees included a DPhil from Oxford University (1988), an MDiv from Wycliffe College, Toronto (1978), an MA from the University of Toronto (1972), and an AB in classics from Dartmouth College (1971).
After the death of his first wife, Lynne, Westberg remarried and moved his family to Oxford, where he studied with Oliver O’Donovan and Herbert McCabe, OP, and wrote a dissertation on Thomas Aquinas and the virtue of prudence.
From 1990 to 1998 Westberg taught ethics at the University of Virginia; then he spent an interim year teaching theology at a seminary in Canada.
His books include Right Practical Reason: Action, Aristotle, and Prudence in Aquinas (Oxford University Press, 1994) and Renewing Moral Theology: Christian Ethics as Action, Character, and Grace (InterVarsity Press, 2015). He worked with the Rev. Reginald Fuller to produce the third edition of Preaching the Lectionary: The Word of God for the Church Today (Liturgical Press, 2006).
Fr. Westberg also is survived by his father, a brother and three sisters, four grown children, and three grandchildren. He divided his time between Wisconsin and Småland, Sweden, where Lisa Westberg is a hospital physician.
Professor Garwood Anderson, acting dean of Nashotah House, devoted his chapel sermon Oct. 19 to grieving the loss of Professor Westberg.
Matthew Townsend is the former news editor of The Living Church and former editor of the Anglican Journal. He lives in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.