Notable Alumni of Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York

Raphael Warnock 1969–

US senator from Georgia and Baptist pastor

Master of Philosophy, Master of Divinity · Systematic theology

Also attended: Morehouse College

Norman Thomas 1884–1968

Socialist and six-time Socialist Party presidential candidate

Also attended: Princeton University

A. J. Muste 1885–1967

Dutch-born clergyman, pacifist and political activist

Also attended: Hope College, New Brunswick Theological Seminary

David Dellinger 1915–2004

Pacifist activist and one of the Chicago Seven

Also attended: Yale University

Claudia de la Cruz 1980–

Activist, 2024 PSL presidential nominee

Also attended: Columbia University in the City of New York, CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice

Muriel Duckworth 1908–2009

Canadian pacifist, feminist and activist

John S. Edwards 1943–

Virginia state senator and lawyer

Also attended: Princeton University, University of Virginia-Main Campus

William H. Hudnut III 1932–2016

Longtime mayor of Indianapolis and US representative

Also attended: Princeton University

George Richard Lunn 1873–1948

First Socialist mayor in New York; former lieutenant governor

Also attended: Bellevue University

Suzan Johnson Cook 1957–

Pastor and former US Ambassador-at-Large for Religious Freedom

Also attended: Emerson College, Dartmouth College, Columbia University in the City of New York

Joann Aalfs 1923–2021

Women's rights and LGBT rights activist

Also attended: Bennington College

Child: Janet Aalfs (Hampshire College, University of Massachusetts-Amherst)

Francis L. Garrett 1919–1992

U.S. Navy rear admiral and Chief of Chaplains

Also attended: Emory University, Wofford College

William Clarke Whitford 1828–1902

Wisconsin legislator, educator and Baptist pastor

Also attended: Union College

Carl Rogers 1902–1987

Psychologist, a founder of humanistic psychology

Also attended: Teachers College at Columbia University, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Rollo May 1909–1994

Existential psychologist, author of Love and Will

Also attended: Michigan State University, Columbia University in the City of New York, Teachers College at Columbia University

Emil Brunner 1889–1966

Swiss Reformed theologian

Rubem Alves 1933–2014

Brazilian theologian, writer and psychoanalyst

Master's degree · Theology

Also attended: Princeton Theological Seminary

Marcus Borg 1942–2015

American New Testament scholar and theologian

Also attended: Concordia College at Moorhead

E. P. Sanders 1937–2022

New Testament scholar, proponent of New Perspective on Paul

Also attended: Southern Methodist University, Texas Wesleyan University

Walter Wink 1935–2012

Biblical scholar, theologian and activist

Also attended: Southern Methodist University

Walter Brueggemann 1933–2025

Theologian and Old Testament scholar

Doctor of Theology · Class of 1961

Also attended: Elmhurst University, Eden Theological Seminary, Saint Louis University

Helen Flanders Dunbar 1902–1959

Psychiatrist and early figure in psychosomatic medicine

Also attended: Yale University, Columbia University in the City of New York, Bryn Mawr College

Mark Juergensmeyer 1940–

Sociologist and scholar of religious violence

Also attended: University of California-Berkeley, Columbia University in the City of New York

Robert Staughton Lynd 1892–1970

Sociologist, co-author of Middletown

Attended until 1923

Also attended: Princeton University, Columbia University in the City of New York, The New School

Spouse: Helen Lynd (Wellesley College)

Child: Staughton Lynd (University of Chicago, Harvard University)

Theodore Newcomb 1903–1984

Social psychologist who led the Bennington College Study

Also attended: Columbia University in the City of New York, Oberlin College

Ada María Isasi-Díaz 1943–2012

Cuban-American theologian, Drew University professor emerita

Also attended: The College of New Rochelle

J. T. Gulick 1832–1923

Missionary and naturalist from Hawaii

Also attended: Williams College

Father: Peter Johnson Gulick (Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton University)

William Hung 1893–1980

Historian and sinologist at Yenching and Harvard

Also attended: Columbia University in the City of New York, Ohio Wesleyan University

C. S. Song 1929–2024

Taiwanese theologian, professor emeritus at Pacific School of Religion

Doctor of Philosophy · Class of 1965

Frederick Buechner 1926–2022

Author, Presbyterian minister and theologian

Also attended: Princeton University

Julien Bryan 1899–1974

Photojournalist and documentary filmmaker

Also attended: Princeton University

Melissa Harris-Perry 1973–

Professor and former MSNBC host

Also attended: Duke University, Wake Forest University

Samuel McChord Crothers 1857–1927

Unitarian minister and popular essayist

Also attended: Princeton University, Wittenberg University

John Stoltenberg 1944–

Writer and anti-pornography activist

Spouse: Andrea Dworkin (Bennington College)

John Batchelor 1948–

Author and host of Eye on the World radio show

Also attended: Princeton University

Freeman Patterson 1937–

Canadian nature photographer and writer

Lisa Oz 1963–

Author and television personality

Also attended: Columbia University in the City of New York, Bryn Mawr College

Spouse: Mehmet Öz (Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania)

Child: Daphne Oz (Princeton University)

William Aikman 1824–1909

Writer and pastor

Attended until 1849

Also attended: New York University

Jay Wright 1934–

Poet, playwright and essayist

Attended until 1962

Also attended: University of California-Berkeley

Cheryl D. Miller 1952–

Graphic designer, founded early Black-woman-owned New York design firm

Also attended: Maryland Institute College of Art, Pratt Institute-Main, Rhode Island School of Design

Vincent Godfrey Burns 1893–1979

Minister and Poet Laureate of Maryland, 1962–1979

Also attended: Harvard University, The Pennsylvania State University

Adel Heinrich 1926–2022

Composer and organist who taught at Colby College

Also attended: Case Western Reserve University

James Hubbard 1906–1960

Rower at the 1928 Summer Olympics

Dietrich Bonhoeffer 1906–1945

German Lutheran pastor, theologian and anti-Nazi dissident

José Míguez Bonino 1924–2012

Argentine Methodist theologian

Also attended: Emory University

Charles Augustus Briggs 1841–1913

Presbyterian theologian excommunicated for heresy

Also attended: University of Virginia-Main Campus

John Sung 1901–1944

Chinese Christian evangelist

Also attended: Ohio State University-Main Campus

Homer Hulbert 1863–1949

Missionary, educator and Korean independence activist

Also attended: Dartmouth College

William Sloane Coffin 1924–2006

Clergyman and peace activist

Also attended: Yale University

Spouse: Eva Rubinstein (University of California-Los Angeles, Scripps College)

K. H. Ting 1915–2012

Chairperson emeritus of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement

Also attended: Columbia University in the City of New York

Mark Hanson 1946–

Third Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Also attended: Augsburg University, Luther Seminary

George Ashmore Fitch 1883–1979

Missionary who filmed the Nanjing Massacre

Also attended: Columbia University in the City of New York, College of Wooster

Karenna Gore Schiff 1973–

Author, lawyer and climate activist, daughter of Al Gore

Also attended: Harvard University, Columbia University in the City of New York

Father: Al Gore (Harvard University, Vanderbilt University)

Mother: Tipper Gore (Boston University, Simmons University)

Charles Seymour Robinson 1829–1899

Pastor, editor and compiler of hymns

Also attended: Williams College, Princeton Theological Seminary

Ibuka Kajinosuke 1854–1940

Japanese educator and Christian minister

Henry Harris Jessup 1832–1910

Presbyterian missionary and author in Syria

Also attended: Yale University

Father: William Jessup (Yale University)

Sophia Lyon Fahs 1876–1978

Editor, author and Unitarian religious educator

Also attended: Columbia University in the City of New York, College of Wooster

Joseph L. Roberts Jr. 1935–2015

Baptist pastor

Also attended: Princeton Theological Seminary

James Herman Robinson 1907–1972

Clergyman and founder of Operation Crossroads Africa

Also attended: Lincoln University

Charles McEwen Hyde 1832–1899

Congregationalist missionary in Hawaii

Also attended: Princeton Theological Seminary

Alden E. Matthews 1921–2014

Congregationalist missionary to China and Japan

Also attended: Chicago Theological Seminary, Grinnell College

William Scott Ament 1851–1909

Christian missionary to China