Larry Shinn, Former Danforth Professor of Religion, Dies at 83

Larry Shinn, who taught religion at Oberlin for 14 years, died April 2, 2025. He was 83. 

During a tenure that started in 1970, Shinn held multiple positions before being named the Danforth Professor of Religion in 1982. He taught courses on the study of religion (Religion as a World Phenomenon), on the religions of India (Hindu and Buddhist Traditions in India and The Life and Teachings of Gandhi), and on methodology (Psychology and Religion as well as Approaches to the Study of Religion). 

After arriving in Oberlin, Shinn was also ordained as an elder in the East Ohio Conference of the United Methodist Church. Throughout his tenure at the college, he promoted the world relief work of the Methodist Church (UMCOR) by holding seminars and giving talks and sermons on world hunger in area churches. He also served as an interim pastor for several local congregations. 

During his last two years at Oberlin, Shinn traveled throughout the United States, visiting more than a dozen Hare Krishna temples, engaging in participant study and interviewing Hare Krishna devotees. 

“Larry Shinn was an immensely popular teacher on campus,” says Fairchild Professor Emeritus of Religion and East Asian Studies James Dobbins. “At a time when the study of religion at Oberlin tended to focus on philosophy, history, and ethics, he sought to present it through the lens of anthropology and psychology—emphasizing what people actually feel and say and do in their religious life.”

After leaving Oberlin, Shinn served as a professor of religion and dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Bucknell University. In 1994, he became the eighth president of Berea College, a position he held until his retirement in 2012. Born in Alliance, Ohio, he earned a bachelor’s degree at Baldwin-Wallace College, a bachelor of divinity at Drew Theological School, and a doctorate at Princeton University.

To read more about Shinn and leave a remembrance, visit his memorial page.