Administrative/Biographical History
Edward LeRoy Long, Jr., was born March 4, 1924 in Saratoga Springs, New York and grew up in Yonkers, N.Y. He received his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1945 and was an instructor of physics there for a short time before he entered the Union Theological Seminary in New York. In 1948, he received a B.D. degree from the Union Theological Seminary and in 1951 he graduated with a PhD. from Columbia University. From 1951-54 he was Minister to Students at Blacksburg Presbyterian Church in Blacksburg, Virginia, and part-time Associate Professor of Philosophy and Ethics at Virginia Polytechnic Institute. In January 1955, he became Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Philosophy and Religion at Virginia Polytechnic Institute. He resigned from the post in July 1957, to become Associate Professor of Religion at Oberlin College.
Edward Long is a notable lecturer. He lectured at the Institute for Religious and Social Studies in New York for the 1957-58 and 1967-68 series. He was also a lecturer in church history at the Oberlin Graduate School of Theology from 1958-59, a lecturer at the 1968 Minister’s Conference at Union Seminary, a Voorhees Assembly Lecturer at Douglas College, Caldwell Lecturer at Douglas College, and Caldwell Lecturer at Louisville Presbyterian Seminary. Edward Long has given lectures and preached at academic institutions including Lafayette College, University of Virginia, Swarthmore College, Maryville College, United States Military Academy, St. Lawrence University, Rutgers University, Methodist College North Carolina, and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
While at Oberlin College, Mr. Long was a member of the Presbytery of Cleveland and of the United Presbyterian Church and an associate member of First Church in Oberlin (United Church of Christ). Edward Long was on Research Status appointment from Oberlin during the 1963-64 school year, in order to work on a post-doctoral fellowship from the Guggenheim Foundation. In 1965, Edward Long was promoted to Professor of Religion at Oberlin College. During the academic year 1969-70, Long was a Fellow in Law, Ethics and Religion at Harvard Law School on a fellowship for cross-disciplinary study from the Society for Religion in Higher Education. Edward Long was on leave from Oberlin College during the second semester of 1972-73 and the first semester of 1973-74. His research was titled, “The Ethics of Pedagogy and Governance in Higher Education,” and his work was supported by an Underwood Fellowship and a grant from the Edward W. Hazen Foundation of New Haven. This research was in preparation for a book, tentatively titled, “Selfhood, Vision and Morality in Higher Education.” Mr. Long was appointed Eli Lilly Visiting Professor of Science, Theology and Human Values at Purdue University for the fall semester of 1975-76.
Edward Long resigned from Oberlin College at the end of the 1975-76 academic year to accept a position at Drew University as Professor of Christian Ethics. In 1982 he became the James W. Pearsall Professor of Christian Ethics and Theology of Culture and has been an Emeritus since 1986.
Edward Long’s honors include membership in the Sigma Xi scientific research society, the engineering fraternities Chi Epsilon and Tau Beta Pi, the American Academy of Religion (for whose Journal he was an editorial consultant), the American Society for Political and Legal Philosophy, the Law and Society Association, and the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion. He received the Herberg Distinguished Teaching Award from Drew Graduate School in 1981. Mr. Long served on numerous committees throughout his life. His many publications include the widely-used text A Survey of Christian Ethics.
Edward Long married Dorothy L. Whitney in 1947. They had three sons: Roger, Charles, and Douglas. Long was widowed at the time of Dorothy's death on August 31, 1980. Long married Grace Darling Cumming on June 5, 1982.
SOURCES CONSULTED
Curriculum Vitae, February 1987.
News from Drew, “Engineer-turned-ethicist to teach at University,” March 29, 1976.
Oberlin College News, “Edward LeRoy Long, Jr., Professor of Religion.”
Author: Archives Staff Administrative Information
