A Pioneer in 20th century Christian Education
- Details
- Published on Sunday, 13 January 2013 21:34
Edna May Baxter
B.Div. '26, Garrett Biblical Institute
Widely recognized as a pioneer in 20th century Christian education, Baxter was the first woman to be appointed, full-time, to the Christian education faculty in a United States seminary. She was a seasoned staff member of two prestigious publications in her field, The Journal of Bible and Religion and Religious Education.
While she was most closely associated with the School of Religious Education at Hartford Seminary, where she taught from 1926 to her retirement in 1959, Baxter brought her innovative curricula to a variety of settings – from rural Illinois to inner city Boston. She believed very deeply in the role of theological education for serving the life and mission of the Church and the Church’s role in supporting spiritual development of children and youth at home.
While Baxter worked tirelessly for the local Hartford community, where she founded the Knight Hall Nursery School and led the local chapter of the Religious Education Association, her work had global reach. She traveled to the Middle East, Korea, and Japan, conducting workshops, delivering lectures, and serving on the boards of several educational institutions and church governing bodies. Cross-cultural relationships and interfaith understanding were abiding concerns throughout her life, and she brought them to bear on the lives of young people in concrete ways. She taught courses introducing economic and social issues, including those of child labor, migrants, miners, workers in cotton, unions and strikes, housing, cooperatives, and living with people of other races. Edna May Baxter shaped the hearts and minds of generations of clergy, religious educators and leaders, many of whom occupy important leadership positions today.
Garrett-Evangelical, a seminary related to