Horace T. Allen ’54

Horace died Feb. 5, 2019.

He prepared for Princeton at Sharon Hill (Pa.) High School. At Princeton he majored in philosophy, wrote his senior thesis on “Christian Mysticism,” joined Terrace Club, and was active in several musical and religious organizations on campus.

He attended Princeton Seminary for one year, then earned a master’s of divinity degree at Harvard Divinity School and served in parish ministries in the United States, Scotland, and England. He earned a Ph.D. at Union Theological Seminary with a doctoral dissertation on the new Presbyterian Book of Common Worship. He served on the Consultation on Church Union representing the Presbyterian churches in the North American Consultation on Common Texts and played a leading role in the movement to establish a common lectionary for all the Protestant denominations, which is now well established.

Horace served as professor of worship and preaching at Boston University’s School of Theology from 1978 to 2003. He published extensively on music and liturgy and was a visiting lecturer at Yale, Harvard, Notre Dame, and Westminster Choir College, among other institutions; and in Korea and China, where he was the first Christian cleric to teach at a Chinese university since the Maoist revolution. Colleagues reveled in his intellect and wit, and scores of students regarded him as their mentor.

He is survived by his sister, Margaret Allen Albert; six nieces and nephews; and his dear friend, Carlos Mucha.