William Lawrence Hendricks, 73, died Sunday, Dec. 8, 2002.

Funeral: 10 a.m. Wednesday in the Sanctuary of Broadway Baptist Church. The Rev. Steven Shoemaker, officiating. Visitation: 4 to 6 p.m. Tuesday at Thompson's Harveson & Cole Funeral Home. Burial: Laurel Land Memorial Park.

Honorary pallbearers: members of the Diaconate of Broadway Baptist Church.

Memorials: The Endowment Fund of Broadway Baptist Church, 305 West Broadway in Fort Worth or the Baptist Studies Program at Brite Divinity School, Texas Christian University, P.O. Box 298130, Fort Worth, Texas 76129.

William Lawrence Hendricks was born March 10, 1929, in Butte, Mont. Hendricks discovered his birth family in 1995 and is survived by four half-brothers and a half-sister. His adoptive parents were Homer and Ruby Jennings Hendricks. William Hendricks grew up in Kansas and was a 1947 graduate of Wichita High School East. He served on the staff of Immanuel Baptist Church in Wichita, Kan.

His university work and advanced degrees include a B.A. from Oklahoma Baptist University, an M.Div. and Th.D. from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. Further study was at Texas Christian University, Southern Methodist University, Union Seminary, New York, Kings College, Cambridge, England and the University of Tubingen in Germany.

He taught at Southwestern Baptist Seminary, 1957-78; Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary in Mill Valley, Calif., 1978-84; and the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., 1984-95. Most recently, he was the director of Baptist Studies and lecturer in Theology at Brite Divinity School at TCU.

Hendricks was both a professor of religious studies and an ordained Baptist minister.

As a minister, he served numerous Baptist congregations as interim minister. He was minister of the South Baptist Church of Dodson and interim minister at Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth from 1976-77. He also taught in seminaries in Taiwan, Switzerland, Yugoslavia, Malaysia and Singapore.

He was author of eight books, served on the Roman Catholic/Southern Baptist Dialogue and was active in the National Council of Churches and World Council of Churches colloquies. He was a member of the American Academy of Religion, the Society of Biblical Literature, the Pacific Coast Theological Society and the National Association of Baptist Professors of Religion. Hendricks was noted for his work on the relation between art and religion.

In 1997, a book of essays in his honor was presented at the American Academy of Religion. He received his honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Campbell College, the Outstanding Alumnus of the Year Award from Southwestern Baptist Seminary and the Outstanding Alumni Achievement and Meritorious Service Awards from Oklahoma Baptist University.

Survivors: Wife of 51 years, Lois Linsey Hendricks; son, John Lawrence Hendricks of Dallas; brothers, George Marsh, Emmett Casey, Daniel Casey and Jerry Casey; sister, JoAnn Benson; and nephews and nieces.

Published in the Star-Telegram from 12/9/2002 - 12/10/2002.