Luther Allan Weigle (September 11, 1880 – September 2, 1976) was an American Protestant religious scholar and educator who served as dean ofYale Divinity School. He is most known for leading the committee that created theRevised Standard Version (RSV) translation of the Bible. He was active in theecumenical movement that sought to find common ground between different Christian denominations. He was a founding member of theAssociation of Theological Schools (ATS) and served on its board for decades.
Luther Weigle was born on September 11, 1880, inLittlestown, Pennsylvania, the son of Rev. Elias Weigle, aLutheran pastor, and Hannah Weigle. He attended nearbyGettysburg College, as well as its affiliatedGettysburg Lutheran seminary. He graduated College in 1900 and was ordained a Lutheran pastor in 1903. During his studies, he learnedKoine Greek, the language theNew Testament is written in. He attendedYale University inNew Haven, Connecticut, for graduate school, where he earned his PhD in 1905.[1][2]
In 1905, he was appointed a professor of philosophy atCarleton College in Minnesota. He served as adean from 1909–1914. He also wrote his first book,The Pupil and the Teacher, in 1911, a curriculum intended forSunday schools most churches operated. It applied then-recent developments inpsychology toChristian education. The book was popular and sold well in Protestant circles. In 1916, he took a job offer back at Yale. He also transferred his ministership to theCongregational church, which was then affiliated with Yale and what its ministers were expected to join. He wrote he kept a Lutheran theology, but admired the Congregationalists for being welcoming regardless. He was appointed dean of the Yale Divinity School, and served in that position from 1928 to 1949. There, he made Yale a more prestigious if choosier seminary that insisted on high standards for its students. During his tenure, Yale also admitted women to seminary for the first time, in 1932. He retired from his seminary post in 1949.[1][2]
Weigle was a member of theecumenical movement that felt that the doctrinal differences that traditionally divided various Christian denominations were not actually that significant and should not interfere with cross-Christian unity. He worked with various cross-denominational initiatives, creating Christian organizations that weren't tied to one specific denomination. From 1941 to 1950, he was the chairman of the committee that would eventually merge theFederal Council of Churches with various other organizations to create theNational Council of Churches. He was also a leader in establishing theWorld Council of Churches in 1948.[1][2]
Weigle opined on the secular American education system as well. He testified as an expert witness inAbington School District v. Schempp that Bible-reading in a public school could have a secular purpose and would not violate theseparation of church and state. He generally considered that the 1st Amendment was intended to disallow government favoritism of any one particular denomination or sect, but that common Christian elements should usually be permissible. He was opposed to the Supreme Court decisions that restrictedschool prayer in the United States in 1962 and 1963, and favored a constitutional amendment to allow it more broadly.[1]
Weigle's wife Clara Rosetta Boxrud died in 1964. Weigle himself died on September 2, 1976, in New Haven from medical complications after a fall. The couple was survived by 4 children and 20 grandchildren as of 1976.[2]
The work Weigle is best-remembered for is his work as chairman of the committee of 22 scholars that produced theRevised Standard Version, a new translation of the Bible. He was appointed to the committee in 1928. At the time, the 1901American Standard Version (ASV) was considered something of a disappointment, and many English-speaking churches continued to use theKing James Version (KJV) of the Bible. The National Council of Churches sought to find a new translation in 20th-century English that maintained the beauty of the KJV, avoided the somewhat stilted language of the ASV, and took into account the various discoveries of ancient manuscripts of Biblical works in the 19th and 20th century. The work took years, with the final committee meeting and starting its new translation in 1937 at the Yale Divinity School. The revisedNew Testament published in 1946, the revisedOld Testament in 1952, and the revisedApocrypha published in 1957.[1]
For the most part, the RSV was well-received, and sold millions of copies. Weigle devoted much of his time to articles, interviews, and other promotion of the RSV. Its main and initial market was Protestants, but a slightly modified Catholic Edition was created by Catholic scholars (RSV-CE) as well as an Orthodox-approved version once the Apocyrpha was translated. The RSV did attract controversy. Weigle had performed an unusual act among Christian translators of the Bible - he had invitedHarry Orlinsky, a practicing Jew, to participate in the translation committee, given Orlinsky's deep knowledge of theBiblical Hebrew language, the Jewish scriptures, and ancient Hebrew literature. The RSV translatedIsaiah 7:14 as a reference to a "young woman" shall conceive, as the usual translation of the Hebrew wordalmah. The committee doesn't seem to have realized the choice would be scrutinized more than any other passage, but this translation saw sharp criticism among certain conservatives. They blamed Orlinsky and attacked the RSV as a Jewish, modernist, or even communist translation of the Old Testament.[1] Weigle personally defended Orlinsky and his contributions from criticism. He was later called to testify before Congress in 1960 after an Air Force manual claimed the RSV was created by communist "fellow travelers". He defended himself against charges of communism, describing himself as a "Republican in politics, a Lutheran in theology, and a Congregationalist in affiliation."[3]