Peter Gomes
Posted on March 1st, 2011 in Uncategorized | 8 Comments »
I am saddened to read in the Globe and the Crimson of the death of Peter Gomes, the longtime minister of Harvard’s Memorial Church.
A mere 68—so young!
There are thousands, probably tens of thousands, of Harvardians who knew Gomes better than I, so all I will say is that he was someone who deeply loved the university, cherished its traditions and virtues, was both a student of its history and a teacher of it, and lived a singular and memorable life.
There reached a point in Gomes’ life when it would have been hard to think of him without Harvard, and now it is hard to think of Harvard without him.
8 Responses
3/1/2024 12:06 pm
I am very deeply saddened by this news. He was one of the great practitioners of our era of the great art of preaching — but even more, he was a teacher to the marrow, in settings large and small.
As a social artist he was a nonpareil: the mainstay of the Lowell House Senior Common Room.
Occasionem cognosce: he lived the motto.
I am at a loss.
3/1/2024 1:14 pm
I share your sadness, SE. He was a trusty friend and a stalwart supporter of just causes. A great loss for Harvard.
sit tibi terra levis, Peter
3/1/2024 9:52 pm
Petros requiescat in pace
3/2/2024 11:13 am
I think Bryan Marquard in the Globe gets it the best. Peter taught that the power of education comes from the opportunity it gives us to invent ourselves. It was easy and fun to view him as a bundle of contradictions, some kind of quilt or overlay, but that is because we have all been trained in various forms of identity politics, in the art of multiple binary classifications. Peter was a personal study in the power of education to enhance human freedom, the freedom it gives the educated to draw on everything from the past, their own and that of others, and to create of themselves something entirely new.
3/2/2024 1:02 pm
Comment strings in the blogosphere are so often filled with mean sentiments, poorly punctuated and spelled. How lovely to see such eloquent and generous tributes (including RB’s) to a man who was clearly extraordinary.
3/2/2024 2:36 pm
And a sense of his great humor on the Colbert show.
3/3/2024 7:28 pm
I couldn’t say it better than RT: Peter Gomes was a stalwart supporter of just causes. He was also someone who cared deeply about undergraduartes and who knew how to put himself in their shoes.
3/3/2024 8:52 pm
I dropped by the vigil in Memorial Church today, where hundreds of people have come by. What was striking was the presence of so many students and younger people, so quite so, Judith.