Gilbert W. Stafford

Last updated • 2 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

Gilbert "Gil" W. Stafford (December 30, 1938 – March 30, 2008) was an American scholarly and pastoral leader in the Church of God Movement (Anderson, Indiana). He was well known inside and outside his church group for his enthusiastic teaching and preaching. Stafford taught systematic theology for many years in the Anderson School of Theology and worked as the speaker for the formerly Christian Brotherhood Hour (CBH), later changed to Christians Broadcasting Hope. [1] Additionally, he contributed in the field of Christian scholarship offering many books and articles from a Wesleyan-holiness perspective. His most substantial work was Theology For Disciples, published in 1996.

Stafford was born in Portageville, Missouri, on December 30, 1938, to D.C. and Orell Stafford. He graduated from Mt. Carmel High School in 1956 and Anderson College in 1961. Believing God wished him to be a minister, he enrolled in the Anderson University School of Theology in 1960.

In 1962, he moved to the Greater Boston area in Massachusetts to work as a pastor for the Malden Church of God. Stafford received his Master of Divinity degree at Andover Newton Theological School, along with his Th.D. from Boston University in 1973.

Dr. Stafford began work at the Anderson University School of Theology [2] as professor of systematic theology in 1976. He eventually served the seminary in the roles of associate dean and dean of the chapel. He played a major role in developing Anderson's Doctor of Ministry degree before his retirement in 2007. Dr. Stafford died from cancer in the spring of 2008.

Among the many articles and books he wrote or contributed to some are Vision for the Church of God at the Crossroads (2002), Church of God at the Crossroads (2000), The Life of Salvation (1979), and Living as Redeemed People (1976).

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)</span> Mainline Protestant (religious) denomination

The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination in the United States and Canada. The denomination started with the Restoration Movement during the Second Great Awakening, first existing during the 19th century as a loose association of churches working towards Christian unity, then slowly forming quasi-denominational structures through missionary societies, regional associations, and an international convention. In 1968, the Disciples of Christ officially adopted a denominational structure at which time a group of churches left to remain nondenominational.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gordon–Conwell Theological Seminary</span> Theological seminary in Massachusetts

Gordon–Conwell Theological Seminary (GCTS) is an evangelical seminary with its main campus in Hamilton, Massachusetts, and three other campuses in Boston, Massachusetts; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Jacksonville, Florida. According to the Association of Theological Schools, Gordon-Conwell ranks as one of the largest evangelical seminaries in North America in terms of total number of full-time students enrolled.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Church of the Nazarene</span> Evangelical Christian denomination

The Church of the Nazarene is a Christian denomination that emerged in North America from the 19th-century Wesleyan-Holiness movement within Methodism. It is headquartered in Lenexa within Johnson County, Kansas. With its members commonly referred to as Nazarenes, it is the largest denomination in the world aligned with the Wesleyan-Holiness movement and is a member of the World Methodist Council.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anderson University (Indiana)</span> Private Christian university in Indiana, U.S.

Anderson University is a private Christian university in Anderson, Indiana. It is affiliated with the Church of God. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate majors as well as graduate programs in business, music, and theology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Church of God (Anderson, Indiana)</span> Christian movement

The Church of God is a holiness Christian denomination with roots in Wesleyan-Arminianism and also in the restorationist traditions. The organization grew out of the evangelistic efforts of several Holiness evangelists in Indiana and Michigan in the early 1880s, most notably Daniel Sidney Warner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Tillich</span> German-American theologian and philosopher (1886-1965)

Paul Johannes Tillich was a German-American Christian existentialist philosopher, religious socialist, and Lutheran theologian who is widely regarded as one of the most influential theologians of the twentieth century. Tillich taught at a number of universities in Germany before immigrating to the United States in 1933, where he taught at Union Theological Seminary, Harvard Divinity School, and the University of Chicago.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Churches of Christ</span> Group of Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement Christian churches

The International Churches of Christ (ICOC) is a body of decentralized, co-operating, religiously conservative and racially integrated Christian congregations. Beginning with 30 members, they grew to 37,000 members within the first 12 years. In June 2022, the ICOC numbered their members at 118,094. A formal break was made from the Churches of Christ in 1993 with the organization of the International Churches of Christ. The ICOC believes that the whole Bible is the inspired word of God.

Charles Caldwell Ryrie was an American Bible scholar and Christian theologian. He served as professor of systematic theology and dean of doctoral studies at Dallas Theological Seminary and as president and professor at what is now Cairn University. After his retirement from Dallas Theological Seminary he also taught courses for Tyndale Theological Seminary. He is considered one of the most influential American theologians of the 20th century. He was the editor of The Ryrie Study Bible by Moody Publishers, containing more than 10,000 of Ryrie's explanatory notes. First published in 1978, it has sold more than 2 million copies. He was a notable proponent of classic premillennial dispensationalism.

George Barna is the founder of The Barna Group, a market research firm specializing in studying the religious beliefs and behavior of Americans, and the intersection of faith and culture. From 2013 - 2018 he served as the executive director of the American Culture & Faith Institute, the research division of United in Purpose. In 2019 he became a professor at Arizona Christian University in Phoenix, Arizona, where he also started the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University. He is also the senior research fellow for Christian ethics and Biblical worldview at Family Research Council.

Rolland D. McCune was an American theologian and ordained Baptist minister. He was professor of Systematic Theology at the Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary in Allen Park, Michigan, where he had been the President of the Seminary for ten years and then Dean of the Faculty for six years. He was active at the Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary from 1981 to 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sinclair Ferguson</span> Scottish theologian and academic

Sinclair Buchanan Ferguson is a Scottish theologian known in Reformed Christian circles for his teaching, writing, and editorial work. He has been Chancellor's Professor of Systematic Theology at Reformed Theological Seminary since 2017, commuting from Scotland, where he is an assistant minister at St. Peter's Free Church of Scotland, Dundee. He is currently a preaching associate at Trinity Church, Aberdeen

Thomas Wayne "Kip" McKean II is an American former minister of the International Churches of Christ and is a current minister of the City of Angels International Christian Church and World Missions Evangelist of the International Christian Churches, also known as the "Portland/Sold-Out Discipling Movement".

Malcom Ollie "Mal" Couch, Jr. was the founder and first president of the Tyndale Theological Seminary. He was a pastor, an author of many books, and writer of 40 documentaries on Bible prophecies and biblical issues. While president of Tyndale Theological Seminary Couch recruited some very well known scholars and Bible teachers to teach the student body. Dr. Norman Geisler, Dr. Paige Patterson, Dr. Robert Lightner, Dr. Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum, and Paul Enns were used in the educational endeavors at Tyndale Seminary. After Dr. Couch retired from Tyndale Seminary he became a Vice President of the Scofield Graduate School and Seminary located in Modesto, California.

Kevin Jon Vanhoozer is an American theologian and current Research Professor of Systematic Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS) in Deerfield, Illinois. Much of Vanhoozer's work focuses on systematic theology, hermeneutics, and postmodernism.

Leith Anderson is president emeritus of the National Association of Evangelicals and Baptist pastor emeritus of Wooddale Church in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, after serving as senior pastor from 1977 through 2011.

Bryan P. Stone is an American theologian who is the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and the E. Stanley Jones Professor of Evangelism at Boston University School of Theology, and a Co-director of the Center for Practical Theology. Stone writes on topics related to both systematic theology and practical theology. He is associated with both postliberalism and Christian pacifism, having been influenced by thinkers such as John Howard Yoder, Stanley Hauerwas, Alasdair MacIntyre, and John Wesley, and in his earliest work with liberation theology and process theology.

Elmer Leon Towns is an American Christian academic, pastor and writer who co-founded Liberty University, the largest private non-profit university in the world, alongside Jerry Falwell in 1971. Towns is also a prominent Christian leader and speaker on the principles of church growth, church leadership, Christian education, Sunday school, and prayer and fasting. He has written over 170 books, eight of which are listed on the Christian Booksellers Association Best Selling List. In 1995, his book The Names of the Holy Spirit received the Gold Medallion Award from the Evangelical Christian Booksellers Association for Book of the Year in Biblical Study. Most recently Towns has served as Dean of the B. R. Lakin School of Religion, Dean of Liberty University Baptist Theological Seminary, and Distinguished Professor of Systematic Theology at Liberty University. In fall 2013, Towns announced he would be taking a sabbatical from his teaching and administrative duties to focus on speaking and writing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kevin DeYoung</span> American theologian, pastor and author

Kevin DeYoung is an American Reformed theologian and author. He is currently the senior pastor at Christ Covenant Church, in Matthews, North Carolina. The church he previously pastored, University Reformed Church, shifted to the Presbyterian Church in America in March 2015 after having been a member of the Reformed Church in America.

Jonathan Leonard Drury is an ordained minister in The Wesleyan Church of North America and an American theologian known for his contribution to Christology, Wesleyan Theology, Barthianism, Holiness Theology, and Protestant Theology. He is currently the Associate Professor of Theology and Christian Ministry at Wesley Seminary and the Discipleship Pastor at Indiana Wesleyan University's Office of Spiritual Formation.

References

  1. ↑ "cbhviewpoint". cbhviewpoint.
  2. ↑ "School of Theology & Christian Ministry - Anderson University, a Christian College in Indiana". www.anderson.edu.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.