Edmund Clowney

Theologian, educator and pastor Edmund P. Clowney died Sunday March 20, 2005 at the Hospital of the University of Virginia, after a short illness. He was 87.

While Ed gathered degrees from Westminster Theological Seminary, Yale University Divinity School, and Wheaton, and later assumed the first presidency of Westminster, he bore himself not as a fusty academic but as a well-humored pastor, approachable and gregarious. His sermons were narrations of a joyous gospel.

Painstaking in his scholarship, Ed’s prime concern became to reveal Jesus’ presence throughout the Bible (e.g., Preaching Christ in All the Scriptures and The Unfolding Mystery). He wrote 10 books and hundreds of articles, many of which have been translated around the world. His last book, How Christ Transforms the Ten Commandments, was accepted by his publisher only days before his death.

Ed helped establish satellite seminaries for Westminster in California and Florida, a Reformed seminary in Aix-en-Provence, and a theological studies program for urban ministers in a rough section of North Philadelphia. His passion for service led him to relocate four times after his 'retirement' in 1984 - to teach at Westminster West, help at Christ the King Church in Houston, and serve as theologian-in-residence at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Charlottesville.