Abstract
Bill Burrows has been my best friend and favorite conversation partner since 1962, when we met in early September at Divine Word College in Duxbury, Massachusetts. I think it is fair to say that neither of us would be the persons we are without the other. We don’t always agree, and we often argue about things as diverse as politics and theology, but we can always talk to one another, share deeply with one another, and laugh with one another. I’ve learned a lot about friendship from Bill, a lot about life, a lot about myself, a lot about God, and a lot about mission.
Bill deeply deserves this Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Missiology. For more than thirty years, Bill has been a regular attendee at the yearly APM and ASM meetings, for many years presiding over the Orbis book table, recommending new titles to people, and helping prospective authors hone their ideas for new books. He has also been a strong presence among us with his booming laugh, great sense of humor, and sometimes caustic wit. He has served many years on the ASM board of directors, on the publications board, and for several years he served as ASM publisher.
All of us have always been in awe of the breadth of Bill’s reading, whether it is his knowledge of the New York Times (which he reads from cover to cover every day), the history of World War II, the latest theology and missiology, or the novels of Patrick O’Brien or Susan Howatch. I know very few people who have the breadth and depth of learning that Bill has. In addition, Bill has become friends—really friends—with some of the great missiological and theological minds of our times—from David Bosch to Andrew Walls, to Jerry Anderson and Dana Robert, to Meg Guider and John Roxborogh, to Wilbert Shenk and Darrell Whiteman, to Lamin Sanneh, David Tracy, Paul Knitter, and Langdon Gilkey—to name just a few. Bill’s friendship with Jacques Dupuis resulted in Bill’s being Dupuis’s literary executor and publishing Dupuis’s defense of his work in the wake of the Vatican investigation of it.
Bill became president of ASM in 2009 and during his presidency and beyond led ASM in a reform that has been incredibly successful over the last several years. No longer is ASM the kind of “old boys’ network” that it had become. It is a vibrant academic society where one can come to meet the great names in missiology, yes, but also the rising stars and scholars of the future. This alone is something worth thanking Bill and honoring him for.
But Bill has done much more, not only for ASM but for the discipline of missiology in general. He is undoubtedly the most important editor of missiological thinking in the last half century, and one of the great editors of general theological literature in our day. Many years ago Bill told me that he struggled between living his life trying to articulate his own ideas in writing, or helping others to articulate theirs. On balance, Bill has contributed a good bit to the literature of missiology in our day, but perhaps his greatest lifetime achievement is that he has helped many of us—myself very much included—in our own lifetime achievements. Listen to the testimonies of some of the authors that Bill has helped publish significant works: Andrew Walls, The Missionary Movement in Christian History (1997): “That the book has actually come into being is due to the insight, patience and perseverance of Bill Burrows, Managing Editor of Orbis Books.” Robert Schreiter, The Ministry of Reconciliation (1998): “thanks to Bill Burrows . . . who has always been constructive in his work with me, and is a dear friend.” Dale Irvin and Scott Sunquist, History of the World Christian Movement, volume I (2001): “Our editor at Orbis Books, William R. Burrows, has played a critical role from the project’s inception. It was Bill who brought the two authors together and helped us conceptualize the consultation process. He has participated in our meetings, adding his insights to those of the group and helping find the way from consultation discussions to the written page.” Peter Phan, Being Religious Interreligiously (2004): “to Bill Burrows, editor extraordinaire, I owe a big debt, and this book is dedicated to him as a small token of friendship and gratitude. He knows why the dedication is written in Italian!” Kirsteen Kim, The Holy Spirit in the World (2007): “I particularly wish to thank Bill Burrows of Orbis Books for his enthusiastic interest in my work.” Susan Smith, Women in Mission (2007): “Dr. Bill Burrows . . . has provided constant and invaluable help not only with this book but also with my earlier thesis writing.” David Bosch, Transforming Mission (1991): “During the final and crucial stages of preparing and editing the manuscript, William Burrows, Orbis’s Managing Editor, took personal charge. His detailed and incisive commentary on my first draft revealed to me his superb qualities as skillful editor, articulate theologian, and sensitive interlocutor. . . . Nobody could have wished for a better editor.”
Bill is irreverent, funny, and often contrary in his opinions. But for all of that, no one can doubt that he is a holy man. Not perfect, not pious, sometimes not even religious, but always honest, and always a testimony to God’s grace—and so holy. We see this in the way he lives, in his relationship with his wife Linda, with his neighbors in Cortlandt Manor, New York, with Linda’s daughters and their children, with so many people that count him as a friend—even with his great dog, Cody. In an exchange of correspondence with John Roxborogh that I had recently, John wrote this about Bill: The likeness to Luther—more than Lutheranism—could be well-drawn; one thinks of rebellious monks, table-talk, beer, holy disobedience (Adrian Hasting’s phrase), the sort of insider trading in human and ecclesiastical stories which leads to insight and understanding; and the sort of holiness that needs a genuinely Catholic understanding of faith and life.
Bill’s theology may be a little bit too Lutheran for my own spiritual taste, but it is at the service of a spirituality in which Christ is at the center of his life. I am so proud to count Bill my best friend. I am so proud to have been shaped by his love and wisdom over the years. I am especially proud to stand here this evening to call him forward to accept ASM’s 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award!