Martin Marty’s unfinished conversations

“Books,” Martin Marty declared, “should not be considered finished products.” The year was 1998, and at that point in his career as a minister, public speaker, columnist, and historian of modern Christianity at the University of Chicago, Marty had already “finished” more than 50 books. A life, especially perhaps the manifestly multifaceted life of Martin Marty, who died on February 25, resists reduction to any single explanation. But Marty’s strong preference for unfinished books illuminates the central energies that propelled his writing, teaching, ministry, and friendships.

His energetic affirmation of the unfinished, whether books or lives, invariably made encounters with Marty memorable events. Jaunty bow ties were a perennial feature of his wardrobe, signaling that he took the occasion seriously, but not himself. He entered a room with a quick step and, just as quickly, entered the flow of your life, your questions, and your ideas. He honored the time and space of the conversation.

Marty gave the same impression on those innumerable occasions when he stepped up to a pulpit or podium somewhere. Characteristically, he once began a lecture series at Calvin College by observing, “I like to lecture on assigned topics.” Why? It was certainly not because Marty had no ideas of his own. Instead, the assignment established that space within which your interests and his interacted, exerted reciprocal influence, and expanded into something new.