Divinity School to Lose Three Professors in July

Three top Divinity School teachers, nearly half of that institution's staff of full professors, will retire this year.

Henry J. Cadbury, Hollis Professor of Divinity, J. A. C. Fagginer Auer, Parkman Professor of Theology, and William Thomson, Jewett Professor of Arabic, leave the faculty on July 1 because of age. Cadbury is 71, Auer 72, and Thomson 66. While the regular retirement age is 65, professors are often given considerable tenure extensions.

The resignations will leave only four full professors on the regular Divinity School Faculty. Contacted last night, George H. Williams, acting Dean, yesterday said announcement of replacements will be made shortly, but he refused to name any possible choices.

It is speculated that the resignations will give the school, under a new dean to be appointed soon, a chance to carry out a new overall emphasis. The school is now attempting to raise an endowment of five million dollars.

Four Professors Remain

The only full professors left on the faculty in addition to Williams, who teaches Church History, are Robert H. Pfeiffer, Hancock Professor of Hebrew and Other Oriental Languages; Harry A. Wolfson, professor of Hebrew Literature and Philosophy; and Arthur Darby Nock. Frothingham Professor of the History of Religion.

Cadbury, who is the ranking professor of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences in academic seniority, is one of the country's leading authorities on the New Testament and Quaker History. He is the former chairman of the American Friends' Service Committee, and in 1947 received the Nobel Peace Prize. His resignation will mark the end of a half century of teaching.

Williams last night said, "In my opinion, Professor Cadbury has been for his colleagues and students the very embodiment of the Divinity School."

Auer has been particularly interested in the cultural relations between the Netherlands and the United States. Thomson has done extensive research in the early development of the Muslim World and Eastern Christian Mysticism.