Diogenes Allen *55

Diogenes Allen, the Stuart Professor of Philosophy emeritus at Princeton Theological Seminary, died Jan. 13, 2013. He was 80.

Allen earned a bachelor’s degree from Kentucky in 1954, and then studied philosophy at Princeton but left before earning a degree. After a year, he went to Oxford as a Rhodes scholar and received a bachelor’s degree there in 1957. In 1959, he earned a bachelor’s degree in divinity from Yale, followed by an M.A. (1962) and Ph.D. (1965), also from Yale.

In 1959, Allen was ordained a minister in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), and he was a pastor from 1958 to 1961. He taught at York University in Ontario from 1964 to 1967 before joining Princeton Theological Seminary in 1967 as an associate professor of philosophy. He became the Stuart Professor in 1981, and retired in 2002. He authored many books on philosophy and spirituality.

Dr. M. Craig Barnes, a former student of Allen’s and now the president of the seminary, said of Allen: “He had a wonderful gift for teaching us how to turn critical thinking into a spiritual practice.”

Allen is survived by his wife, Jane; four children; and eight grandchildren.

Graduate memorials are prepared by the APGA.