Alan Kreider

Last updated
Alan Kreider [1]
BornNovember 1941 (age 78)
Goshen, Indiana, United States
DiedMay 8, 2017
Goshen, Indiana, United States
Spouse(s)Eleanor Kreider

Alan Kreider was the American Professor Emeritus of Church History and Mission at the Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Indiana. His main interests were mission, worship, peace, and ecclesiastical history (especially the early church and Anabaptism). [2] Kreider continued to speak, write and publish in these areas of interest until his death in May 2017. [3]

Contents

Education

Kreider was educated at Goshen College, Indiana (BA 1962), Princeton University (1962–63), Heidelberg University (1963–64), Harvard University (AM 1965) (PhD 1971), and the University of London (1966–68). He has been the recipient of a Danforth Fellowship (1962–68), a Harvard Travelling Fellowship (1966–67), and an American Council of Learned Societies Fellowship (1972–74). In 1995 he was accorded the status of Master of Arts in the University of Oxford and his name was added to the Register of Congregation. [1]

Appointments

Goshen College

Kreider was Assistant and Associate Professor of History at Goshen College 1968-1983.

London

He spent 1974-2000 in England as a Missionary with the Mennonite Board of Missions. He was Warden and Director of the London Mennonite Centre 1974-1991 and Elder of Wood Green Mennonite Church, London 1975-1991. In 1979 he became an Adjunct Lecturer in Church History at London Bible College, where he remained until 1983.

Manchester

He spent 1991-95 in Manchester as an Adjunct Lecturer in Church History at the University of Manchester and as Theologian in Residence at the Northern Baptist College. During this period he was also a Visiting Lecturer at the Eastern Mennonite Seminary (1991) and at the Bible College of New Zealand (1993). In 1993 he became Book Review Editor for Anabaptism Today and continued to serve in that role until 2000.

Oxford

In 1995 he moved to Oxford, where he remained until 2000, as both Director of the Centre for the Study of Christianity and Culture at Regent’s Park College and a member of the Oxford University Theology Faculty.

Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary

Kreider served as an adjunct faculty member of Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary beginning in 1997. He was named Associate Professor of Church History and Mission in 2004 and became Professor of Church History and Mission in 2008. He retired from teaching in 2011.

Other activities

As a public speaker, Kreider has taken part in a debate on the arms race with Marshal of the Royal Air Force The Lord Cameron of Balhousie as part of the London Lectures on Contemporary Christianity at All Souls Church, Langham Place (1982) and with Lord Trefgarne, Edward Leigh MP, and Canon Paul Oestreicher, at the Cambridge Union Society (1983). In 1997 he, with his wife Eleanor, preached at the Mennonite World Conference in Calcutta and in 2001 they delivered three speeches in Japan to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the Japanese Mennonite Church.

Kreider (sometimes with his wife, Eleanor) has given the Staley Lectures at Goshen College (1987 and 2001), the Laing Lecture at London Bible College (1994), the Tyndale Christian Doctrine Lecture at the Tyndale Fellowship, Cambridge (1996), the Schrag Lectures and Sider Peace Lectures at Messiah College, Pennsylvania (2001, 2007), the Menno Simons Lectures at Bethel College, Kansas (2001), the Believers Church Lectures at Fresno Pacific University, California, (2002), the Athol Gill Memorial Lecture at Whitley College, Melbourne, Australia (2005), the Annual Lecture at the Macquarie Christian Studies Institute, Sydney (2005), and the Augsburger Mission Lectures at Eastern Mennonite University (2012). He has spoken at the Wheaton College (Illinois) Theology Conference (2007), the Calvin Theological Seminary Symposium on Worship (2011), Tyndale University College and Seminary and Wycliffe College, Toronto (2011). He has been Senior Mission Scholar in Residence at the Overseas Ministries Study Center, New Haven, Connecticut (2005).

Kreider has been a member of the Shaftesbury Project on Christian Involvement in Society (1978-1983), Evangelical Peacemakers (1983-1992), the Missiology of Western Culture Project History Group (1992–97), and the Mennonite-Roman Catholic International Dialogue (2000). He was a founder of the Anabaptist Network (UK) and was a member of its Steering Group (1991-2000). [1]

Works

Kreider's publications include: [1]

Related Research Articles

Anabaptism A Christian movement and set of beliefs that started as a result of the Reformation in Western Christianity.

Anabaptism is a Christian movement which traces its origins to the Radical Reformation. The movement is generally seen as an offshoot of Protestantism, although this view has been challenged by some Anabaptists.

Holiness movement set of beliefs and practices which emerged from 19th-century Methodism

The Holiness movement involves a set of beliefs and practices which emerged chiefly within 19th-century Methodism, and to a lesser extent other traditions such as Quakerism and Anabaptism. The movement is Wesleyan-Arminian in theology, and is defined by its emphasis on the doctrine of a second work of grace leading to Christian perfection. As of 2015, a number of evangelical Christian denominations, parachurch organizations, and movements emphasize those beliefs as central doctrine. Holiness-movement churches had an estimated 12 million adherents.

Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches

The Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches (CCMBC) is a community of about 250 diverse Mennonite Brethren (MB) congregations spread across Canada, united through their evangelical Anabaptist beliefs and values and by their mission to grow healthy churches, helping them reach their worlds.

Peace churches Christian groups advocating Christian pacifism, including: Church of the Brethren; Religious Society of Friends (Quakers); and Mennonites

Peace churches are Christian churches, groups or communities advocating Christian pacifism or Biblical nonresistance. The term historic peace churches refers specifically only to three church groups among pacifist churches—Church of the Brethren; Religious Society of Friends (Quakers); and Mennonites, including the Amish, Old Order Mennonite, and Conservative Mennonites—and has been used since the first conference of the peace churches in Kansas in 1935.

John Howard Yoder 20th century American Mennonite theologian

John Howard Yoder (1927–1997) was an American theologian and ethicist best known for his defense of Christian pacifism. His most influential book was The Politics of Jesus, which was first published in 1972. Yoder was a Mennonite and wrote from an Anabaptist perspective. He spent the latter part of his career teaching at the University of Notre Dame.

The Mennonite Historical Library (MHL) is considered the world's most prominent and complete collection of resources and artifacts pertaining to Mennonites and related Anabaptist groups. It is housed in the Harold and Wilma Good Library on the campus of Goshen College in Goshen, Indiana. The specialty library was founded in 1906 under the guidance of Harold S. Bender and Ernst Correll. Historian John D. Roth is the current director.

Harold S. Bender American writer

Harold Stauffer Bender was a prominent professor of theology at Goshen College and Goshen Biblical Seminary. His accomplishments include founding both the Mennonite Historical Library and The Mennonite Quarterly Review. He served as President of the American Society of Church History, and was a major scholarly influence on fellow Mennonite theologian John Howard Yoder.

Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary

Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS) is an accredited Anabaptist Christian seminary in Elkhart, Indiana, affiliated with Mennonite Church USA and Mennonite Church Canada. It was formerly known as Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary until its name was changed in 2012.

Guy F. Hershberger was an American Mennonite theologian, educator, historian, and prolific author particularly in the field of Mennonite ethics.

The Mennonite Church USA Archives was founded in 2001 under the denominational merger of the (old) Mennonite Church and the General Conference Mennonite Church. Prior to 2001, the two largest Mennonite denominations maintained separate archives: the Archives of the Mennonite Church, located on the Goshen College campus, housed materials pertaining to the (old) Mennonite Church, while the Mennonite Library and Archives on the Bethel College campus held the records of the General Conference Mennonite Church.

Peter J. Dyck was a Canadian Mennonite relief worker and pastor best known for his work resettling Russian Mennonite refugees after World War II.

The Women's Missionary and Service Commission, previously known as the Women's Missionary and Service Auxiliary and abbreviated WMSC or WMSA, was a women's organization of the "old" Mennonite Church that originated out of the Mennonite Sewing Circle movement. Named the WMSC in 1971, there were many precursor organizations and it has since evolved into Mennonite Women USA, an organization with a much wider scope.

College Mennonite Church (CMC) is a Mennonite Church located in Goshen, Indiana, and a member of the Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference of Mennonite Church USA.

Assembly Mennonite Church is a Mennonite Church located in Goshen, Indiana. It is a member of the Central District Conference of Mennonite Church USA. Beginning as a small group of Members from Surrounding Mennonite Churches, Assembly broke from that congregation in the mid-1970s.

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George Jay Lapp was an American missionary to India for the Mennonites. He was ordained in 1905 and became a Bishop in 1928 while in India. Lapp served as interim president of Goshen College from February 1918 until June 1919.

Nelson Edward Kauffman was a bishop, pastor and leader of the (old) Mennonite Church. He served as secretary for home missions for the Mennonite Board of Missions and Charities from 1955-1970, as president of the Mennonite Board of Education from 1950-1970, and from 1934-1956 worked with his wife, Christmas Carol Kauffman, as a missionary in Hannibal, Missouri. He is father of James Kauffman.

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John Horsch was a Mennonite historian and writer.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 [ dead link ]
  2. Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Alan Kreider
  3. Reflections in honor of Alan Kreider (1941–2017)
  4. "Resident but Alien: How the Early Church Grew". YouTube. 2015-12-01. Retrieved 2017-03-17.