Hillary Rodham Clinton and the President present Martin E. Marty with the National Humanities medal . . . one the few times Marty has skipped class at the University of Chicago.

Among 20 nationally known figures in the arts and humanities honored Sept. 29 at a White House ceremony was Martin E. Marty, Ph.D. A well-known commentator on the American religious scene, and a church historian at the University of Chicago Divinity School who has written and edited more than 50 books, Marty is also the George B Caldwell senior scholar-in-residence at the Park Ridge Center.

"As we approach the millennium, many Americans are examining their own and the nation's spirituality, faith, and the role of religion in our nation's life," said President Clinton in presenting the humanities medal. "No one has thought more deeply about these questions than Martin Marty. . . .

"Among the many things to which he is faithful, he is faithful to his teaching, and he told me he is missing class today, one of the very few times in a long career of teaching. We have all been enriched by his work and we thank him for it."