• Introducing Our Ministers •
The Rev. Barry C. Halterman
Focusing on the ‘Big Picture’ in Religion
W
hen Barry Halterman attended chapel in the Academy Boys School as a
senior in 1981-82 did he have any idea that one day he would be up on
that stage, leading the service? Probably not.
He was a good student and a good athlete – football, basketball and
baseball. He earned an academic scholarship to college. And as a senior he was
the quarterback and defensive end on a storied ANC team that not only went
undefeated but only gave up 6 points all year.
He was born, raised and educated in Bryn Athyn and says: “While I was
moderately interested in religion in high school, it wasn’t a subject I thought I
would pursue in any way in college, let alone think about as a career.”
Barry went to Temple University in Philadelphia as a Business and Finance
major – assuming he would go into banking, the stock market or some moneyand-numbers related field.
During his sophomore year he found he wasn’t enjoying those courses as
much as he thought he would, and made a fateful decision – to take a course in
comparative religions. Then, he says, “My whole direction started to change.”
“With a background in the more universal approach to religion in the New
Church,” he notes, “I found I really enjoyed seeing the big picture of religion
and seeing what the Lord had given to other religions and cultures.
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