The Reverend Dr. Scott Hampton Hendrix, the James Hastings Nichols Professor Emeritus of Reformation History and Doctrine at Princeton Theological Seminary, died on February 15, 2026, in Asheville, North Carolina. He was 83 years old.
Scott was born on December 26, 1942, in Columbia, South Carolina, to George LeRoy Hendrix and Sara Kaminer Hendrix. On June 27, 1965, he married Emilee Frick in Anderson, South Carolina. He is survived by his wife; his children, Selinde Lanier (Laird Lanier) and Giles Hendrix (Suzanne Sisoler); and his grandchildren, Amelia Lanier, Zoe Hendrix, and Maya Hendrix.
An internationally renowned theologian and church historian, Scott’s work on Martin Luther and the Reformation shaped the field for decades. He earned a Ph.D. in Reformation studies from Tübingen University in Germany and was ordained to the Lutheran ministry by the South Carolina Synod on June 4, 1972. His academic career included teaching Church History at the Lutheran seminaries in Columbia (Southern), Philadelphia, and Gettysburg from 1971 to 1998. In 1998, he joined the faculty of Princeton Theological Seminary, where he served until his retirement in 2007.
Scott chaired the Continuation Committee of the International Congress for Luther Research and served on the editorial boards of the Archive for Reformation History, Sixteenth Century Journal, and Lutheran Quarterly. His major publications include Recultivating the Vineyard: The Reformation Agendas of Christianization (2004), Luther (2009), Martin Luther: A Very Short Introduction (2010), and Martin Luther: Visionary Reformer (2015). Colleagues and students remember him for a friendly and engaging personality that bridged the gap between rigorous scholarship and accessible teaching.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to The Crumley Archives (https://www.crumleyarchives.com) or to The Rev. Dr. Scott H. Hendrix Scholarship fund which was established in 2021 to recognize his contributions to Lutheran church history and to fund continued research and scholarship in the field (https://www.crumleyarchives.com/resources).
