The Rev. Dr. James K. Echols

The Rev. Dr. James K. Echols is the fifth President of the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. His election in 1997 made him the first African American Lutheran to serve as president of a North American Lutheran seminary. This historic event followed his earlier 1991 election at The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia as the first African American Lutheran to serve as the Academic Dean of a North American Lutheran Seminary.

Dr. Echols’ invovlement in the Lutheran church began in the early 1960s. In December of 1961, the pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church in West Philadelphia conducted the funeral service for his father. Although the Echols family had Baptist and Methodist connections, the caring ministry of Pastor Hans Rebane led them first to attend and then to join that ethnically German congregation.

Several saints of God have been instrumental in Dr. Echols’ life. As a Temple University undergraduate, Dr. Echols was intent upon becoming a lawyer. But Dr. Grover C. Wright of the former Lutheran Church in America encouraged him to consider ordained ministry, and Dr. Echols ultimately attended The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. Before his seminary graduation in 1977, however, Dr. Clarence L. Lee, the seminary’s Professor of Early Church History, suggested he pursue a teaching ministry. The support of the seminary’s faculty led him to study American Religious History at Yale University, receiving the Ph.D. degree in 1989.