The death of Martin E. Marty at 97 could be interpreted as the end of an era. For roughly six decades, Marty has been recognized as the leading authority on religion in America. The imprint of his career merits close consideration. His legacy proves to be more valuable than may be apparent. He cast a vision that transcends the foibles of religious life.
The sheer volume of Marty’s accomplishments makes assessment difficult. Yet the broad outline is clear. After earning his doctorate at the University of Chicago and serving in Lutheran parish ministry, Marty began a teaching career at Chicago that fully concluded only in recent years. He wrote 60 books and thousands of articles and reviews. Marty was president of various academic societies, and held administrative posts and memberships on boards. At the height of his career, Marty was often cited in national media and advised presidents Carter and Clinton.
Meanwhile, he also advised 115 doctoral students at Chicago. I am honored to be among that group. Fittingly, we are a spectrum of religious outlooks and professional vocations. Not surprisingly, Marty kept in touch with us, grieving at our struggles, rejoicing at our accomplishments. Amid the academic guidance he gave, Marty was ever a pastor and friend. His loss is all the more telling for those he encouraged so faithfully.
What then was Martin Marty’s legacy? The image of pastor and friend seemingly clashes with much he wrote on American religion. “The noise of conflict” was a frequent Marty topic. He led a research project on fundamentalism and lectured on “hardline” religion. His attention to Christian tradition was sobered by analysis of institutional fractures because of “culture wars.” Further, Marty was mindful of religious pluralism as a reality of modern life. In his imagery, America is a place where “faiths collide,” and where we are religiously restless. Americans are truly Pilgrims in Their Own Land, the title of his history of American religion. Our dynamism seems to pull us apart.
Many historians would be content to have written acclaimed works on religious discord and the disruptions of modernity. However, the vision that animated Marty ran deeper, as the title of one of his books on pluralism reveals. The One and the Many considers American life as a “struggle for the common good.” The pressures of modernity incline some Americans toward life in like-minded religious enclaves and suspicion of those who differ. Recognizing the fact of difference, Marty believed there was a truly American identity resonant with acceptance of pluralism. Within the plethora of religious and cultural identities, Marty saw the prospect of a dynamic American character that could unite rather than divide.
Religion is central to American life because it embodies the American spiritual journey. However, as Marty described in his presidential address to the American Academy of Religion in 1988, religion is not simply found in churches or in academic studies. To find religion in America, one must look closely at the public. In the everyday lives of all people, one finds searches for meaning, quests for personal and shared identity, moments of triumph, seasons of despair. In A Cry of Absence, Marty even considered grief after the death of Elsa, his first wife. The American story is a human one. Around such a core, the many can become one.
Obsessed with “reading” American life, Marty followed the effect of broad social trends on religious institutions and outlooks of all sorts. He would have relished reading a piece that appeared in The New York Times on February 25, the day he died. In “One Nation, Under God,” Lauren Jackson considered a recent report from Pew Research. The study found that 92 percent of American adults hold one or more spiritual beliefs as Pew listed them. Contrary to images of religious decline, spirituality is at a high level and growing.
Pew does not focus on religious institutions. Organized religion likely benefits from fresh energies. But Pew found that this spiritual surge occurs primarily in public life. Marty’s legacy is confirmed. We are a nation of pilgrims seeking spiritual homes and finding common good. May it ever be so.
The Rev. William L. Sachs is associate rector of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Richmond, Virginia, and the author of several books on Anglican history.
