J. Neil Alexander

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The Right Reverend

John Neil Alexander
Bishop of Atlanta
Church Episcopal Church
Diocese Atlanta
ElectedMarch 31, 2001
In office2001–2012
Predecessor Frank Allan
Successor Rob Wright
Other post(s)Dean of School of Theology, Sewanee (2012-2020)
Orders
Ordination1988
by  G. P. Mellick Belshaw
ConsecrationJuly 7, 2001
by  Frank Griswold
Personal details
Born (1954-01-23) January 23, 1954 (age 69)
Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States
Nationality American
Denomination Anglican (prev. Lutheran)
SpouseLynn Tesh Alexander
Children3

John Neil Alexander (born January 23, 1954) is a bishop and the Custodian of the Standard Book of Common Prayer in The Episcopal Church. [1] He is Professor of Liturgy, Emeritus, and Quintard Professor of Theology, Emeritus, in the School of Theology of the University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee. He served as dean of the School of Theology at the University of the South from 2012 to 2020, and is Dean Emeritus. From 2001 to 2012, he was the 9th Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta.

Contents

Background

Alexander was born in 1954 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. In 1976 he married Lynn Tesh Alexander, a pediatric nurse practitioner. They are the parents of three adult children, John, Kelly, and Mary Catherine and grandparents of three grandsons and a granddaughter.

He graduated from Moravian College in 1976 with a B.A. degree in Music. In 1979, he obtained a M.Mus. degree from the University of South Carolina. In 1980, Alexander earned a M.Div. degree from the Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary, and was ordained by the North Carolina Synod of the Lutheran Church in America, first pastoring Faith Lutheran Church in Murray Hill, New Jersey.

From 1984 to 1987, Alexander taught Liturgics and Spirituality and was Dean of Keffer Memorial Chapel at Waterloo Lutheran Seminary in Ontario, Canada. In 1987, he joined the faculty at The General Theological Seminary in New York City as Assistant Professor of Preaching and Director of the Chapel, later teaching liturgics as well. He was ordained as a deacon and then priest in the Episcopal Church in 1988 by New Jersey Bishop Mellick Belshaw. He received a Th.D. degree from The General Seminary in Liturgics in 1993, where he became the Trinity Church Professor of Liturgics and Preaching. While at General, he served in a variety of parish settings in the metropolitan New York area. In 1997, he was named the Norma and Olin Mills Professor of Divinity at the School of Theology at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee where he taught both liturgics and homiletics. Alexander was elected and ordained bishop of Atlanta in 2001, and was nominated for Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in 2006. The Rt. Rev. Katharine Jefferts-Schori was elected, the first woman to hold the position. As the bishop of an owning diocese of the University of the South, he served as chancellor from 2009 to 2012. [2]

On February 8, 2011, Alexander announced that he would step down as bishop of Atlanta in the fall of 2012 after the election of his successor. In 2012, he returned to the University of the South, as Dean of the School of Theology, Professor of Liturgy, and Charles Todd Quintard Professor of Theology. In November 2019 it was announced that he would step down as Dean in August 2020, but continue as Professor of Liturgy and Quintard Professor. [3]

He has also taught at Candler School of Theology, Drew University, and Yale Divinity School. [4]

Consecrators

J. Neil Alexander was the 968th bishop consecrated in the Episcopal Church.

Publications

Bishop Alexander is the author and editor of a number of publications in the fields of liturgics, homiletics, sacramental theology, and pastoral practice, including a number of his sermons.

See also

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References

  1. ↑ Michael, Mark. "July 9, 2022". The Living Church . As one in a series of appointments to positions of churchwide service, the House of Bishops also appointed the Rt. Rev. Neil Alexander, former Bishop of Atlanta and dean and president of the School of Theology at Sewanee, as the Custodian of The Book of Common Prayer.
  2. ↑ Ross, Nan, "Bishop of Atlanta announces plans to leave in 2012," February 8, 2011. Online: https://www.episcopalatlanta.org/news/bishop-of-atlanta-announces-plans-to-leave-in-2012/
  3. ↑ "Sewanee".
  4. ↑ Sewanee: The University of the South. "The Dean | The School of Theology | The University of the South". www.sewanee.edu. Retrieved December 8, 2017.
Episcopal Church (USA) titles
Preceded by 9th Bishop of Atlanta
July 7, 2001-October 14, 2012		Succeeded by
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