ST. LOUIS - November 12, 2007 - After 30 years of service to the Seminary, Eden Professor Enoch Oglesby has announced plans to retire at the end of Academic Year 2007-2008. Dr. Oglesby serves as Eden’s United Church Professor of Theology and History.

“Enoch’s announcement is in every respect bittersweet,” said Don Driemeier, Acting President of Eden. “The period of recuperation from his stroke this fall has allowed him to in some ways simulate what that retirement might be like and allowed him to take a ‘retirement test drive.’ As a result, he has come to the decision that the time is right for his retirement.”

“Dr. Oglesby has served Eden with distinction,” said Deborah Krause, Academic Dean and Professor of New Testament. “He has been a leader in the field of Christian social ethics, and a leader in Eden’s faculty for confronting and working through issues of social, economic, racial and gender justice in our curricula, common life and in church and society. His teaching both in the Seminary classroom and in the church has left his mark on several generations of church leaders - from pastors to college presidents, from church bishops to university and seminary professors, from lay leaders to political leaders.”

Dr. Oglesby joined the Eden faculty in 1978, becoming the first African American professor to serve full time in the history of the school. A major focus of his work at Eden has been to engage in critical thinking about ethics in the moral life, grounded in the Bible. In addition to a required course in Christian ethics, he teaches courses in sociology of religion, pastoral ethics, black theology and the theology of Martin Luther King, Jr. He founded and led the Black Church Studies program through Eden. He has published more than 10 books in the field of Christian social ethics, including Pressing Toward the Mark: Christian Ethics in the Black Church Today (Wipf & Stock Publishers, May 2007), and the newly released Ministry Bound (Hamilton Books, November 2007).

Ordained in both the United Church of Christ and the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc., Dr. Oglesby received his Ph.D. from Boston University Graduate School in 1973. He earned his Master of Theology degree from Boston University’s School of Theology, which recently presented him with its Distinguished Alumnus Award. He completed his undergraduate work at Lane College in Jackson, Tennessee.

“Professor Oglesby has been a faithful steward of the gifts and graces God has given him to lead the life of the church,” said Dr. Krause. “Eden is blessed to have had him serve over these years as our professor. His daily presence around the faculty table and in the classroom will be sorely missed.”