Born October 3, 1910, John Hines grew up in the small South Carolina town of Seneca, nurtured in his faith in a tiny Episcopal Church. After compiling an exemplary record in academics, athletics, and student leadership at the University of the South, he graduated from Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Virginia, at the height of the Great Depression. Hines’s first ministry was in St. Louis, Missouri, where he flourished under the guidance of Bishop Will Scarlett, the Episcopal Church’s premier advocate of the "Social Gospel," which promoted reformation of American society based on Christian imperatives. There he met and married Helen Orwig and began a family that eventually grew to include four sons and a daughter.

Hines was called at age 26 to a large parish in Augusta, Georgia, where he fearlessly advocated Christian social action. In the heart of the South, he preached courageously against the sin of racism and began a lifelong defense of all who lacked political, economic, social, and educational resources.

He movd to Houston, Texas, in 1941 to become rector of Christ Church. There he served throughout the years of World War II with such distinction that he was elected bishop coadjutor of the Diocese of Texas at age 34. During a decade in office, he established his reputation as an incomparable builder of ecclesiastical institutions by founding a nationally recognized seminary, a secondary school, a nursing home, many college chaplaincies, and 41 new congregations.

John Hines on ETSS campus 1978

He also labored against racial segregation and tried to increase the number of African-American laity and clergy. After becoming bishop of Texas in 1955, Hines led his diocese through the process of integrating all of its institutions and agencies, and he urged Episcopalians to become advocates in the struggle for civil rights.

By the time he was in his early 50s, Hines was respected as a man of sharp intellect, wit, and conviction; as warm, charming, humble, persuasive, and affirming in relationships; but of unyielding integrity and unshakable commitment to the cause of justice in the name of God. His ability was recognized by the Episcopal House of Bishops who elected him to lead their 3 million members through an extraordinarily disruptive time. From 1965-1974, during a time of national self-appraisal, Hines fostered profound changes in the church’s internal structure and outward focus. Termed "a constantly expanding intellect [with] staunch faith and powerful persuasive abilities [and] love for a good scrap," he labeled himself a "theological conservative and social progressive."

John Hines preached at
20th anniversary of Christ Chapel 1986

Carrying a burdensome office
His office carried the nearly impossible demands of serving as chief executive officer, pastor, and spokesman, as well as primary representative to other Christian denominations and entities within the Anglican Communion. At the church’s Manhattan headquarters, Hines supervised a large staff with "a light rein and no spurs," often neglecting administrative detail to concentrate on developing and expressing his vision for the church, promoting an activist approach to social issues and offering pastoral care to fellow bishops. During his term, he supported liturgical renewal, Episcopal participation in the ecumenical movement, the ordination of women, and the inclusion of members of minority groups in church councils.

Above all, Hines stood on the "firing line" where Christian values intersected racism and poverty. This was never more evident than in his response to summer riots in 1967 that exploded in dozens of American inner cities. At the 62nd General Convention in Seattle, he proposed a daring vision for healing the country’s distressed urban ghettos by reordering the Episcopal Church’s financial priorities. Believing that fairness and equal opportunity alone could not alleviate the suffering experienced by many American blacks, he called for self-determination and empowerment long before they became common concepts. He advocated giving political and economic independence to the urban poor, enabling them to shape their own destiny by providing financial help with "no strings attached."

John Hines before 1994 ETSS Commencement Eucharist

A Special Program for social action
His plan, known as the General Convention Special Program, was accepted overwhelmingly, and Hines succeeded in shifting the church’s focus to servant-oriented mission and ministry and placed its resources at the forefront of a nationwide undertaking. Other denominations followed Hines’s lead in sending aid to America’s troubled inner cities. He also wanted to rid the Episcopal Church of racism, later stating, "I hoped the program would save the church’s soul [and] show that the church had at least a partial understanding of what the cross meant." This program, Hines’s signature ministry, accomplished much, but he was unable to inspire the bulk of the rank and file members. Eventually it provoked much dissension and led many local congregations to withhold funds, drastically reducing the church’s national budget.

Hines broke new ground in May 1971 by fighting against racism outside the United States. At a General Motors shareholders’ meeting, with his church’s shares and thousands of proxies in hand, he initiated a movement to divest American institutions of interests in South Africa as a way to pressure its government to end apartheid. The divestment movement, which spread to include other denominations, groups and civic organizations, was credited by former Archbishop Desmond Tutu of Southern Africa in the 1990s as key to apartheid’s eventual collapse. One year’s United Press International ranking of the 10 most important Protestants in America listed Hines behind only Eugene Carson Blake, Billy Graham, and Martin Luther King Jr. In 1971, the interfaith organization Religious Heritage of America named him "Clergyman of the Year."

Preaching at the Commencement ...
his final public sermon

A lightning rod for controversy
During his term, Hines elevated the office of presiding bishop to its most powerful expression, but ran afoul of many who considered this an excessive centralization of authority. Controversy and condemnation mounted against Hines, but despite criticism that reached unprecedented levels, he stood fast in his belief that the church must risk giving itself away, risk even dying for the sake of its mission. Hines never flinched in his uncompromising support for the poor and defenseless, inspiring similar commitment in others.

His legacy remains open to interpretation. Since his retirement, the Episcopal Church at the national and local levels has intensified its interest in social outreach ministries. But Hines also is considered by many as the primary cause of the church’s declining numbers, and loss of confidence in its national structure. When he left office voluntarily before the end of his term in 1974, The Christian Century observed that Hines "remained astride the bucking bronco of a polarized church during one of the most controversial decades in American history. … During his tenure, a lifetime of controversial issues was telescoped in a decade — and the good bishop is to be congratulated for remaining in the saddle that long."

After retiring, Hines lived for nearly 20 years in North Carolina. He remained mostly out of the spotlight, preaching infrequently, serving as a guest lecturer, and participating in the consecration of bishops. In 1993 he and his wife moved to Austin, Texas, where Helen Hines died in 1996.

Bishop Hines died on July 19, 1997.

— The Rev. Ken Kesselus, a 1972 ETSS graduate, is the author of John E. Hines, Granite on Fire.
He was rector of Calvary Episcopal Church in Bastrop, Texas, for several years.

Ken Kesselus with John Hines at 1995 book signing
on ETSS campus

Article from St. Stephen's School website

Following World War II, many Texas Episcopal families expressed interest in a top-quality boarding school closer to home. A questionnaire sent to congregations in 1947 identified 63 children attending boarding school outside the diocese.

The Rt. Rev. John E. Hines, then Bishop Coadjutor of the Diocese of Texas, and later Bishop of the Diocese and Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, launched a campaign to create an Episcopal boarding school that would provide a rigorous academic and moral education for the children of families in towns and ranches across the state.

At the dedication of St. Stephen’s on Nov. 1, 1950, Hines declared:

Hines, who also founded the Episcopal Theological Seminary in Austin, became known for his prophetic vision. Not long after he was consecrated as the Fourth Bishop of Texas, he told a fellow bishop: "A cathedral . . . is a place . . . for a bishop to stand up! To expand his visibility, to speak in an authentic prophetic tradition, both to and for the people of God . . . Can you imagine Amos sitting down and saying 'Woe to them that are at ease in Zion?'"

For John Hines, segregation was not compatible with the Christian Gospel. Politics and religion were inseparable. During a particularly difficult time in his tenure in Texas when he fought with typical zeal for desegregation, some of his dissenters charged Hines with "communistic aims." In his fiery response, Hines referred to Christ on the cross and proclaimed that "there is no such thing as neutrality in a dynamic and sinful world such as this." Closing with words from the prophet Ezekiel, he urged: "Let us not dissipate our energies by fighting among ourselves, when the real enemy is at the door. For by His Grace we are the Lord's own watchmen."

As Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, Hines responded to the civil rights turmoil of 1967 by using the platform of General Convention to call upon the Church to become the "watchmen" of the Lord. His vision for the church was that it become the leader of "a bold, full-scale, mobilization of our resources that can be dedicated to the righting of a great wrong and the healing of a bloody wound in the body of our nation's life . . . For it may be that we are in 'a moment of passing grace' given to us by God, that may never again re-occur--and in which we are given together the opportunity to act."