Scope and Contents
Randolph C. Miller exerted a profound influence on religious education in the U.S. and throughout the world as professor of Christian education and theologian of process and relationship. These papers complement other the significant holdings in the field of religious education at the Yale Divinity Library, including the papers of George Albert Coe and Paul Vieth, and the archives of the Religious Education Association and the Association of Professors and Researchers in Religious Education.
Series I, Published Articles and Pamphlets, includes writings that Miller published throughout his long career. Many of these articles were gathered by the library over a period of years. Other articles by and about Miller are interspersed in the Alphabetical Files of Series III, which represent Miller's own office filing system. Series II, Manuscripts and Drafts, contains primarily typescript versions of articles and booklength writings that later appeared in published form. There are also typescript sermons in this series. The Alphabetical Files of Series III provide an excellent snapshot of Miller's accomplishments and interests. The Scrapbooks of Series IV contain material similar to that found in Series I and III, just in a different format. The Notes of Series V are Miller's handwritten notes for sermons, talks, etc. on a wide variety of topics. Series VI, Audio-Visual Material, includes a five-part video series entitled "A life in Education; A Conversation with Randolph Crump Miller" and a two-part audio series entitled "Theology of Jazz."
Dates
- 1932 - 1997
Creator
Conditions Governing Access
The materials are open for research.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of R. C. Miller
Arrangement
- I. Published Articles and Pamphlets
- II. Manuscripts and Drafts
- III. Alphabetical Files
- IV. Scrapbooks
- V. Notes
- VI. Audio-Visual Material
- VII. Biographical Material
Extent
13 Linear Feet (27 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Catalog Record
A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog
Persistent URL
Abstract
Writings, notes, and collected material document Miller's work. Randolph Crump Miller was a professor of Christian Education at the Yale Divinity School.
Biographical / Historical
Randolph Crump Miller was born in Fresno, CA on October 1, 1910, the son of the Reverend Ray Oakley Miller and Laura Belle Crump Miller. He earned his B.A. degree from Pomona College in 1931. Miller came to Yale to study with Luther Weigle, Hugh Hartshorne, Robert Calhoun, and Douglas Clyde Macintosh. He was a special studnet at Episcopal Theological School in Cambridge, MA during 1935-1936 and received his Ph.D. from Yale in 1936. Miller was ordained in the Protestant Episcopal Church in 1935.
From 1936 to 1952 Miller taught at Church Divinity School of the Pacific, Berkeley, CA. He was also chaplain to Episcopal students at the University of California through 1940. In 1952 Miller returned to Yale as Professor of Christian Education on the Luther Weigle Fund. Upon the retirement of Paul Vieth in 1964, Miller became the Horace Bushnell Professor of Christian Nurture at Yale Divinity School. Miller received a D.D. from the Pacific School of Religion in 1952 and a D. D. from Episcopal Theological School in 1961. He became Professor Emeritus at Yale in 1981.
Over the course of his career, Miller wrote eighteen books (several translated into Japanese and Korean) and published many articles. His books include What We Can Believe, Biblical Theology and Christian Education, Christian Nurture and the Church, Your Child's Religion: A Practical Guide for Parents, The American Spirit in Theology, This We Can Believe, and several others. His 1950 book, The Clue to Christian Education, was highly influential in the field of religious instruction. Miller gave sermons, lectures, and workshops throughout the United States and abroad. A jazz enthusiast and expert, Miller spoke widely on the theology of jazz, as well as on topics in theology and Christian education. From 1958-1978 he was editor of the interfaith journal, Religious Education, published by the Religious Education Association.
Professor Miller was a member of the Episcopal Evangelical Fellowship and the Religious Education Association. He was a trustee of the periodicals The Churchman and the Anglican Theological Review, and served as a consultant in Christian education for the National Council of Protestant Episcopal Churches. He served as director of Christian education at Trinity Church on the Green in New Haven from 1961-1971.
For more biographical information, see Miller's Festschrift: Process and Relationship, edited by Iris Cully and Kendig Brubaker Cully (Birmingham, AL: Religious Education Press, 1978).
- Title
- Guide to the Randolph Crump Miller Papers
- Author
- Compiled by Rosinah Kelebogang and Martha Lund Smalley
- Date
- 2015
- Description rules
- Finding Aid Prepared According To Local Divinity Library Descriptive Practices
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
Part of the Yale Divinity Library Repository