Joseph Sittler was a graduate of Wittenberg College and Hamma Divinity School in Springfield, Ohio.  He taught at Chicago Lutheran Theological Seminary and was professor of theology at the University of Chicago.  He was active in the Christian ecumenical movement working with the World Council of Churches and the National Council of Churches.  He was an early pioneer in supporting the relationship of  Christian theology and ecological thought.   He passed away in 1987.