Rev. Dr. Stephen Butler Murray, Senior Director of Development for Family Philanthropy and Professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at Georgetown University, has been selected as the Interim Executive Director of the Washington Theological Consortium (WTC). The announcement was made by Board of Trustees President, Robert S. Seiler, Jr. Rev. Dr. Murray succeeds the Rev. Dr. Larry Golemon who is stepping down after 15 years of service to the organization.
Now in its 55th year, the WTC is a community of ten theological schools and seminaries, and several religious education institutions from diverse traditions, that pursue ecumenical dialogue, interfaith understanding, and educational collaboration to better equip clergy and laity for the ministry of the Church in a diverse society.The member schools and institutions span the Greater Washington, DC and Mid-Atlantic Region. The Consortium offers a number of course cross-registration opportunities to students in its member schools and an array of certificates in theological and pastoral studies, including in ecumenical dialogue, Muslim-Christian relations, ecology and theology, spirituality, and criminal justice.
“The WTC’s Board of Trustees is delighted to hire the Rev. Dr. Murray as the Consortium’s new Interim Executive Director. In his decades of experience in theological education and pastoral ministry, Dr. Murray has demonstrated a strong commitment to ecumenical and interfaith relations and superior leadership, pastoral, organizational development, and fundraising skills,” Seiler said. “Dr. Murray is well suited to support the WTC’s programs and activities and to assist the Board in charting the future course of the Consortium and conducting a search for a permanent Executive Director,” he added.
“The WTC literally transformed my life,” Dr. Murray said. He attended an ecumenical event for seminarians in Washington in 1996, when he was a student from Yale Divinity School. “We sought to experience how theological education was done elsewhere, an intentionally ecumenical and inter-religious endeavor. That week with the WTC informed my steadfast belief in the potential for dialogue, respect, and friendship made possible through ecumenism and interfaith dialogue,” he continued. Now thirty years later, he said he is “humbled by the invitation of the WTC Board to serve as Interim Executive Director, to help shape the present and future of the WTC while honoring its over half-century of achievements.”
Including his work at Georgetown, Rev. Dr. Murray’s academic service represents a breadth of ecumenical scholarship. He served as President and Professor of Systematic Theology and Preaching at Ecumenical Theological Seminary in Detroit, Michigan, and as prior Executive Director of the Congregational Library and Archives in Boston, Massachusetts. He was also Dean of the College and Associate Professor of Religion at Barrytown College in New York State, and served as chaplain and on the faculty at Harvard University, Skidmore College, Endicott College, and Suffolk University.
Similarly, Dr. Murray’s ecclesiastical postings and service reflect the depth of his ecumenical and interfaith commitments. Former Executive Minister and Head of Communion of the International Council of Community Churches, he has served as the pastor of American Baptist, Congregationalist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Unitarian Universalist, and United Church of Christ congregations in urban, suburban, and rural settings of Massachusetts, Michigan, and New York.
He previously served as Magee Fellow and Director of the Public Service Internship Program at the Dwight Hall Center for Public Service and Social Justice at Yale University. He was on the Governing Board of the National Council of Churches, the Massachusetts Bible Society, the Massachusetts American Baptist Historical Society, and the Capital Region Theological Center in Albany, New York. He was Co-Chair of the Theologians Commission of the American Baptist Churches USA, served as a member of The Elijah Interfaith Institute in Jerusalem, and is a past president of the North American Paul Tillich Society.
He has received ecumenical awards from multiple institutions and organizations, and was the subject of an Emmy award-winning episode of EBRU TV’s show PODIUM, focusing on the challenge of moving from debate to dialogue in inter-religious encounter.
Dr. Murray lives in Bethesda, Maryland with his wife, the violinist and conductor Jordan Delphos Murray, and their son, David.
Dr. Golemon will assist Dr. Murray in transition to his new role. Dr. Golemon’s own service to the WTC will also be recognized in an August conference focused on the impact of ecumenism and interfaith dialogue on theological education. (Visit WashTheoCon.org/events for details.) “One cannot speak of the WTC and the great good it has done for theological education and interreligious understanding without highlighting the remarkable tenure of Dr. Golemon,” Dr. Murray said, noting further, “Every institution and every student who has interacted with the WTC across the past 15 years is a beneficiary of his considerable legacy.”
Dr. Murray assumes his new role on July 1, 2026.
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