James Franklin Kay is the Joe R. Engle Professor of Homiletics and Liturgics Emeritus, and Dean and Vice President of Academic Affairs Emeritus at Princeton Theological Seminary.
Biography
Born in Kansas City, Missouri, James Kay earned a B.A. at Pasadena College, San Diego, California, in 1969; an M.Div. at Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1972; an M.Phil. and a Ph.D. at Union Theological Seminary, New York City, New York in 1984 and 1991 respectively. Interrupting his studies at Harvard, Kay spent the academic year 1970-1971 at St. Mary's College of the University of St. Andrews, in St. Andrews, Scotland, United Kingdom. Later, during the summers of 1976 and 1977 he undertook graduate work in liturgical studies at St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota. On May 1, 1975 Kay was ordained as a PresbyterianMinister by the Presbytery of Red River in the former United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. Between 1974 and 1978 he was the pastor of the Northern Lakes Parish in Beltrami County, Minnesota, and between 1977 and 1979 he also acted as the campus minister at Bemidji State University at Bemidji, Minnesota. Since 1980 he has been a member of the Presbytery of New York City of the Presbyterian Church. During the year 1993, Kay was the exchange senior minister at , in Melbourne, Australia. In 1981, while a student at Union, and in consultation with the Rev. William Sloane Coffin, senior pastor of the Riverside Church, New York City, Kay authored what became known as the Riverside baptismal formula: "In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God, Mother of us all," derived from the classical axiom that the ad extra works of the Persons of the Trinity are indivisible and based on Julian of Norwich's insight that Jesus Christ exercises the ministry of "Mother" towards the faithful. Kay's thirty-year tenure at Princeton Theological Seminary was marked by his chairing the Miller Chapel Renovation Committee for the oldest house of worship in continuous use in the former Borough of Princeton, New Jersey. He also oversaw the designing of Scheide Hall in conjunction with Ford, Farewell, Mills, and Gatch, Architects, and the selection of the Paul Fritts Organ donated by the American philanthropist, Joe R. Engle. From 2002-2014, Kay directed the Joe R. Engle Institute of Preaching, securing for its work significant grants and endowments, and widening its outreach to Spanish-speaking pastors. In 2010, Kay was appointed the Seminary's Dean of Academic Affairs by then President Iain R. Torrance. Following President Torrance's retirement at the end of 2012, he continued to serve until his own retirement in 2018, under President M. Craig Barnes, with the additional title of Vice President of Academic Affairs. In this role, Dean Kay assisted the Seminary with its inter-institutional relations with Princeton University and Rutgers University, as well as with several overseas partnerships authorized by President Barnes. They included the Inter American University of Puerto Rico, Presbyterian University and Theological Seminary in Korea, Yonsei University in Korea, Faculdade Unida, a graduate school of theology and religion, in Brazil, and the renewing of contacts with theological faculties in Cuba, Costa Rica, Ghana, Nigeria, and South Africa. Kay has edited the journals and Theology Today. As editor of the latter, he initiated its transformation from an American print journal to an international electronic journal in cooperation with SAGE publications. He has also lectured widely on the history, theology, and practice of Christian worship and preaching, as well as on homiletical theories--both those emerging from antiquity and from the post-Enlightenment era. In 1997, Kay was the Forrester/Warrack Lecturer at St. Andrews University, Scotland. From 2012-2018, he served on the Executive Committee of the American Theological Society.
Career at Princeton Theological Seminary
James Kay has held the following positions at Princeton Theological Seminary:
Instructor in Homiletics
Assistant Professor of Homiletics
Associate Professor of Homiletics and Liturgics
Joe R. Engle Associate Professor of Homiletics and Liturgics
Chair of the Practical Theology Department
Joe R. Engle Professor of Homiletics and Liturgics
Director of the Joe R. Engle Institute of Preaching
Dean of Academic Affairs
Dean and Vice President of Academic Affairs
Joe R. Engle Professor of Homiletics and Liturgics Emeritus
Dean and Vice President of Academic Affairs Emeritus
