New York Theological Seminary Announces Vision for the Eddy Program for Spiritual Coordination and Community Well-Being at the Seminary

For Immediate Release:

New York Theological Seminary Celebrates the Life and Work of the Revs. Norman and Margaret Eddy and Announces Vision for the Eddy Program for Spiritual Coordination and Community Well-Being at the Seminary

The family of Margaret and Norman Eddy and the leadership of New York Theological Seminary (NYTS) are working together to establish The Margaret and Norman Eddy Program Center for Spiritual Coordination and Community-Well Being.  The goal is the creation of a Program Center – an endowed fund – that will continue the life work of Margaret and Norman Eddy.

Two events are planned connected with this exciting initiative, which will also serve to honor the life and work of the late Margaret Eddy and celebrate the birthday of Norm Eddy.  The first is a reception and briefing on The Margaret and Norman Eddy Program Center, followed by the premiere of a film about the Eddys.  This event will take place on Friday, February 26, 5:00-7:30 p.m. at The Interchurch Center (475 Riverside Drive, 120th Street), New York City.

The second event is a birthday celebration for Norm, reflections on Spiritual Coordination, and the sharing of appreciations about the birthday honoree.  This event will take place on Saturday, February 27, 2:00-5:30 p.m. at the Church of the Resurrection (325 East 101st Street, between First and Second Avenues), New York City.

The Living Legacy of Norman and Margaret Eddy

Norman Eddy was born and brought up in New Britain, CT. He graduated from Yale University and served in World War II in a volunteer ambulance corps, the American Field Service in Egypt, Libya and Italy.  In the summer of 1943 as the AFS ambulances returned from Palmyra (Syrian Desert), Norm had a spiritual experience on the road to Damascus.  He was engulfed by the love, truth, and beauty of the divine and he experienced the unity of all creation even in the midst of the horrible war.  From that experience, Norm’s purpose in life became clear — to live by the Holy Spirit and to uncover the light of God within himself and all others.

Norm Eddy’s experience began a life journey which included attending Union Theological Seminary, being ordained in 1951, a life-changing ministry in East Harlem and a remarkable woman named Margaret (Peg) Lindsay Ruth.  The ministry was the East Harlem Protestant Parish and “Peggy” was a fellow seminary student.  She was equally committed to issues of social justice and activating well-being in the community through education, peer counseling, and biblical storytelling.  Peg Eddy’s biblical storytelling aligned the stories of the Bible with the lives of people around her (in East Harlem, the USA and the Soviet Union) addressing illness, work, and family life.

Peg and Norm married in 1950, became co-pastors of a little storefront church in East Harlem, lived in tenements on 100th Street and raised their three children there.  They devoted their lives together to spiritual coordination, prayer networks and Biblical storytelling.  They are known for their compassionate action groups leading to life-changing community committees on narcotics, economics, and education.

Peg, a Smith College graduate, studied at Union Theological Seminary.  She was ordained in 1951 and went on to gain a Master’s degree in Sacred Theological and a Doctor of Ministry degree from New York Theological Seminary.  She was on the faculty at NYTS and Princeton University.  She was active with NYTS until her death in 1990, at which time a scholarship was established in her name.  Former East Harlem Protestant Parish member, Jose Vadi, remembers that Peg Eddy was a “strong woman of strong convictions. She was not given to grandstanding or showboating so I think that Norman got most of the play or whatever attention there was to what they were doing.  Anyone that knew them knew they worked as a team but in the patriarchical and sexist culture of that era (the 1950s through 1980s), women were relegated to the background even by so-called ‘progressives.’ So I don’t think [Peg] got the credit that she deserved in that ‘man’s world.’ [This event] is an opportunity for Norman to clarify this whole matter because he knows how much she meant to what he was doing. They were definitely a team. They prayed together, strategized together, and worked together for the greater good of East Harlem.”

Envisioning The Margaret and Norman Eddy Program Center for Spiritual Coordination and Community Well-Being

The Vision for the Program Center includes the following:

• To make a home in the Seminary for the training of pastors and other urban faith leaders in skills of spiritual coordination (the spirituality of community organizing, compassionate action) and biblical storytelling.
• To endow a faculty position that will guide, maintain, and continue to make relevant the life work of Margaret and Norman Eddy through ongoing urban ministry, teaching and research.  The faculty member will be committed to spiritual coordination.
• To include in the Program Center other Seminary programs, that fit under the umbrella of Spiritual Coordination and Community Well-Being such as special retreats, a retired minister’s network, and other relevant programs and/or events.
• To fund The Program Center with an endowment of $500 thousand and the professorship with an endowment of $2 million.

About New York Theological Seminary

New York Theological Seminary (NYTS) was founded in 1900 by Dr. Wilbert Webster White, and formerly known as the Biblical Seminary in New York. NYTS is a non-denominational urban center for theological education with more than 700 students working in partnership with churches throughout the metropolitan area and around the world.  Its student body is one of the most diverse in the nation today, and its programs are offered at a variety of academic levels in order to provide resources for ministry.  NYTS prepares men and women for effective service in church and society, in parish ministry, and other vital ministries outside the church.  NYTS shares with its constituencies a fundamental commitment to the transformative power of the Word of God.  NYTS is the only seminary in the nation primarily dedicated to preparing and supporting clergy and laity for ministry in the complex urban context of today.

The Seminary extends an invitation to all to join this call for action to make Peg and Norm’s urban and healing ministries a reality at New York Theological Seminary.  Funding of The Margaret and Norman Eddy Program Center for Spiritual Coordination and Community Well-Being is part of The Campaign for New York Theological Seminary.  For more information about The Margaret and Norman Eddy Program Center or to make a contribution, please contact:

The Rev. Susan Switzer
Director of Major Gifts & Planned Giving
Office of Development and Institutional Advancement
New York Theological Seminary
475 Riverside Drive, Suite 500
New York, NY  10115 
sswitzer@nyts.edu    
212-870-1264