Dr. Harold Albert: Introduced
"playback TV" to Seminary's preaching classes

The Rev. Dr. Harold Albert, a professor of preaching who introduced television replay into the classroom at The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (LTSP), died October 7 in Kissimmee, FL, where he resided. He was 87 and had been suffering from cancer.

Dr. Albert, an emeritus professor of LTSP, was St. John Professor of Practical Theology at the Seminary for 16 years from 1965 until retiring in 1981. "Dr. Albert passionately believed in preaching to people where they are," recalls Dr. John H. P. Reumann, a one-time faculty colleague. "He championed the use of media illustrations from television and film in sermons. And he fought to make the tools of media a part of the Seminary's teaching environment."

When Dr. Albert first began to teach preaching (homiletics) at the Seminary, seminarians did written evaluations of each other. Student preachers could "pass off or even dismiss certain observations" made on written forms, Dr. John Kaufmann, the Seminary's Registrar Emeritus, wrote in a 1969 issue of the Seminary's Bulletin. But Dr. Albert's television replay "shows the student as he is without excuse or escape," and such an experience could be "ruthlessly exact" in depicting facial expressions, tone, inflection, pauses and volume of fledgling preachers, Kaufmann wrote. In the Bulletin, one seminarian described the new experience as "getting to me in the pit of my senses." Another called the television monitor "the enemy." And a third described the "shock effect" of seeing himself on camera. But seminarians later described it as a "constructive teaching tool." One termed it "our ally."

Dr. Albert was known for urging his students to keep in mind "compassion for others" in practicing the preaching craft, Kaufmann recalls today. "To better understand the plight and predicament of others, he would dress in shabby clothing and wander downtrodden neighborhoods to learn about their experiences." On one such occasion, Kaufmann recalls, Albert was beaten and robbed. But the mugging didn't alter the professor's convictions.

Dr. Albert was a popular guest preacher, serving as chaplain for a church-wide assembly in Seattle, WA, and presiding over Lenten series conducted in communities throughout Pennsylvania, New York and Virginia.

He was also known for telling humorous stories. In one he detailed a traveling experience with his wife, the former Eleanor Thompson, who served a number of years as an activities coordinator for older persons living at Germantown Home. Albert related how he had once parked his van on a lakeside incline and absent-mindedly stepped away without applying the emergency brake. Somehow his wife scrambled to apply the emergency brake just before the vehicle immersed itself. He is also recalled for bringing to class his beloved St. Bernard dog, "Zug," named for a town the couple visited in Switzerland.

Albert held pastorates in Springfield, Lorain and Columbus, OH, and in Pittsburgh, PA, prior to beginning his Seminary career. At First Lutheran Church in Pittsburgh, where he served from 1955 to 1965, he established a counseling center. A church staff partnership with the Rev. Dr. LeRoy Aden, who directed the Center, was influential in bringing Aden onto the Seminary faculty a few years later as Professor of Pastoral Theology.

Dr. Albert earned his B.A. at Wittenberg University (1935), his Bachelor of Divinity degree at the former Hamma Divinity School (1938), a Master of Sacred Theology degree at Oberlin Graduate School of Theology (1945), and Doctor of Divinity degrees from Wittenberg (1953) and Roanoke College (1964).

Dr. Albert was a member of the Board of Theological Education of the Lutheran Church in America, a predecessor body of the current 5.2-million member Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. He also served on the Board of Directors for Hamma Divinity School, a predecessor Seminary of Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, OH.

Surviving are three children, Janet, Douglas and Christine. Eleanor Albert died in March of this year.

A memorial service will be conducted at 11 a.m. Thursday, October 11 at Trinity Lutheran Church, 3016 West Vine Street, Kissimmee, FL.