Lester Start’s Works

Lester Start, May 1966

Lester Start

Lester Start was a professor of philosophy and an ordained Baptist minister of the American Baptist Convention. The profession of philosophy predominated, but he was a supply minister in many churches, and served as interim pastor for a year at First Baptist Church of Kalamazoo, Michigan. He felt that reason and faith were both necessary to the good life of individuals and societies (see “Athens and Jerusalem”) .

Born in Utica, New York, 1919.

Graduated Valedictorian from Hamilton College in Clinton, New York

M.A., Haverford College (Pendle Hill Scholar; now called Brinton Scholar, after Anna and Howard Brinton, co-directors in the ’40s of Pendle Hill Quaker study center )

Bachelor of Divinity from Colgate-Rochester Divinity School, 1945

Ordained a Baptist minister, 1945

Ph.D. in philosophy from Syracuse University, 1946 (also studied at Columbia University and Union Theological Seminary)

Taught philosophy at Utica college of Syracuse University, 1946-1958

Chaired Kalamazoo College Philosophy Department, 1958-1986

Died in Kalamazoo, Michigan, 2001.