F. Burton Nelson Papers

Collection

Identifier: 6-1-2-1-49

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The collection includes newspaper clippings files, course documents, research notes, and correspondence files. Of note are his correspondences with Eberhard and Renate Bethge, as well as other members of the International Bonhoeffer Society; and research and lecture material covering a vast array of Christian ethics issues. The collection is arranged (or left, rather) according to the personal filing system of F. Burton Nelson. At present, there is no specific chronology. The processed folders are labeled with subject/theme, materials included, and years covered. Of the sixty-one bank boxes in this collection, Boxes 1-4, 27-28, and 50 have been processed. Boxes 1-20, 22, 29-49, 51-56, 58, 59, and 61 are comprised mostly of newspaper clippings, course documents, research notes and general correspondence files. Boxes 21, 23, and 24-28 focus on Nelson’s Bonhoeffer studies. These boxes include correspondence with Bonhoeffer scholars and members of the International Bonhoeffer Society; secondary research material, lecture notes/outlines, and course documents. Box 50 is devoted to Nelson’s correspondence with Eberhard and Renate Bethge, Bishop George Bell, various Bonhoeffer Conference attendees, and members of the World Council of Churches. At present, this box also includes Nelson’s Ph.D. dissertation. Boxes 57 and 60 hold various multi-media resources including Panasonic Micro cassettes and Ektachrome picture slide transparencies.

Dates

1960 - 1996
Majority of material found within 1980 - 1996

Conditions Governing Access

There are no access restrictions on the materials and the collection is open to all members of the public. However, the researcher assumes full responsibility for conforming with the laws of libel, privacy, and copyright that may be involved in the use of this collection.

Biographical / Historical

F. Burton Nelson was born August 24, 1924 in Mt. Kuling in Hupeh, China to Covenant missionaries K.M. and Anna Nelson. His parents returned to the U.S. in 1926 and settled in Princeton, Illinois, where his father set up a medical practice and the family attended the Evangelical Covenant Church. He attended North Park University in Chicago, earning an associate’s degree in 1944 and then graduated in 1946 from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. He later received a diploma from North Park Theological Seminary in 1948 while also completing graduate studies in philosophy at the University of Chicago. While a student at North Park, he met L. Grace Johnson. They married in June 1948. Nelson was ordained in 1949 and served Covenant churches in West Warwick and Providence, Rhode Island (assistant); Garyton, Indiana; Chicago (North Park as assistant) and Evanston, Illinois; and Plainville and Bristol, Connecticut. During his seminary education, Nelson was challenged to pursue a career in teaching. While serving as a pastor, Nelson also studied at Yale University Divinity School (Master of Divinity in 1950), where he decided to focus on Christian ethics, following in the footsteps of one of his professors, the famed H. Richard Niebuhr. He then earned a Ph.D. in theology from Northwestern University in 1965 and studied ethics at Garrett Theological Seminary. It was at Northwestern that Nelson first seriously studied the life and work of Lutheran pastor and Nazi resister Dietrich Bonhoeffer. While reading works like Life Together, Ethics, and Letter and Papers from Prison, Nelson found his life’s calling and went on to become one of the world’s preeminent Bonhoeffer scholars. His studies on Bonhoeffer also led Nelson to teach about the Holocaust. He became a founding member of the Annual Scholar’s Conference on the Holocaust and the Churches, and in 2000 was honored with the Eternal Flame award for his contributions to the field of Holocaust studies.

Published works include The Story of the People of God (1971), A Testament to Freedom: the Essential Writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1990) co-edited with Geffrey Kelly of LaSalle University, and The Cost of Moral Leadership (2003), co-authored with Kelly. He also edited The Bonhoeffers: Portrait of a Family by Sabine Leibholz-Bonhoeffer and was a consultant for a Bonhoeffer documentary released in 2003.

Dr. Nelson used an enormous collection of newspaper clipping to show students how ethical issues played out in their communities. He subscribed to over fifty journals, read at least a book a week, and participated actively in five or six academic organizations. F. Burton Nelson died on March 22, 2004. At the time, he was serving as research professor of Christian ethics at North Park Seminary and a senior associate at Oxford University. (Source: Covenant Companion, March 2004, pp 31-32).

Extent

61.0 Linear Feet (61 containers)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

The F. Burton Nelson Papers consist largely of newspaper clippings files, course documents, research notes, and correspondence files documenting his career as professor of theology and ethics at North Park Theological Seminary, and one of the world’s preeminent Dietrich Bonhoeffer scholars. Of note are his correspondences with Eberhard and Renate Bethge, as well as other members of the International Bonhoeffer Society, and research and lecture material covering a vast array of issues related to Christian ethics. Also included is a collection of photo slides and videotapes used in his lectures.

Arrangement

The process folders are arranged as they were retrieved from F. Burton Nelson’s office. The order has not been altered. This is not due to the notion that original order must be maintained, but rather an uncertainty about how a collection of this nature should be arranged. All files may contain a variety of materials, including correspondence, manuscripts, research notes and clippings.