Paul Courtright

Paul Barber Courtright (1942-2024)

Paul Barber Courtright, 82, of Atlanta, Georgia, passed peacefully on the morning of December 9, 2024, surrounded by his loving family. He was born on August 12, 1942 in Nashville, Tennessee, to Harold Franklin Courtright and Norma Gibbs Courtright, and grew up in Omaha, Nebraska.

He is predeceased by his parents and his brother John, and is survived by his brother Lee, his beloved wife Peggy, his children Benjamin (Deanna), Jonathan (Sarah), Rachel Hammond (Clint), and David, and his grandchildren Nathan, Serena, Charlotte, Claire, Lucy, Gibbs, Bess, and Jake.

Paul's life was marked by great adventure, the pursuit of knowledge, and a deep love of family and community. In 1963, he travelled by rail with his church to Washington DC to witness Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. He attended Grinnell College in Iowa and after graduating in 1964 with a B.A. in History, he spent a year serving as Assistant Rector at Ahmednagar College in Maharashtra, India, which laid the foundation for his love and study of the country he would return to many times with his family. Upon return he earned an M.Div. from Yale University and an M.A. and a Ph.D. in Religion from Princeton University.

Paul was Professor Emeritus of Religion and Asian Studies at Emory University. In a message to the Emory College of Arts and Sciences, Dean Barbara Krauthamer said of Paul: "During his long and distinguished career, he published and taught on Hindu marriage, pilgrimage traditions, and the religious landscape of British colonial India. Paul had previously taught at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where he also served as department chair, and at Williams College.

Paul was a visionary administrator. He came to Emory University in 1989 as chair of its Religion department. During his years as chair (1989-1996), he worked to expand its faculty and diversify its Graduate Division of Religion. He helped to found Emory's Ph.D. program in West and South Asian Religions (WSAR), whose graduates soon began to populate the field, establishing Emory as one of the premier doctoral programs for the study of religion in the US. His students and the junior faculty who served under him will remember Paul as the most generous and supportive of mentors. He was also instrumental in strengthening the Emory-Tibet Partnership, which continues to flourish."

Paul had a rare gift for cultivating and strengthening community. He was a deep listener and even deeper thinker, a poet, a writer, a scholar, a teacher, and a talented chef. His eyes sparkled with life, and he was always quick to break the tension with a well-placed one-liner. Laughter was his medicine, and joy was his sacred practice. He loved his family deeply; he was a devoted father, husband, and grandfather, and gave of himself to them with unconditional love. He showed up in good times and bad, and found a way to levity even when times were the roughest. Many of his children's friends found themselves enfolded in the vast wings of his love, and have come to also call him their father. He had more than enough to go around, and gave freely and generously of his warmth, his care, his attention, and his time. He never asked for gifts for birthdays or holidays, only the presence of those he loved. He was fluent in all the many languages of love, but quality time was his mother tongue. His presence was, and is, and forever will be, deeply felt and tremendously missed. He was fascinated with peoples and cultures, and could find a way to connect with anyone he met, no matter how obscure the subject. His last days were filled with the love and laughter of his wife, four children, and eight grandchildren, and in that time he memorably said, "I just want to spend the time I have left spreading as much love as possible." This was his true life's work, and by all measures he succeeded immensely. To put it in the words of his favorite film, The Big Lebowski, he was "a good man, and thorough." All who knew him were blessed by his love.

His funeral service will be held on Friday, December 13, 2024, at 11 o'clock in the morning at St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church, 1790 Lavista Road Atlanta, GA 30329.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made to St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church (www.stbartsatlanta.org), the Atlanta Community Food Bank (www.acfb.org) or the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (www.lls.org).