Alan Kreider
Encyclopedia
Alan Kreider is Professor of Church History and Mission (retired) at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary
. His main interests are mission, worship, peace, and ecclesiastical history (especially the early church and Anabaptism).
, 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
.
1968-1983.
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.
and a member of the Oxford University
Theology Faculty
.
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.
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 preached at the Mennonite World Conference
in Calcutta and in 2001 he delivered three speeches in Japan to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the Japanese Mennonite Church.
Alan 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), and the Annual Lecture at the Macquarie Christian Studies Institute, Sydney (2005). He has been Senior Mission Scholar in Residence at the Overseas Ministries Study Center, New Haven, Connecticut (2005).
Alan 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).
Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary
Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary is an accredited Christian seminary in Elkhart, Indiana, affiliated with Mennonite Church Canada and Mennonite Church USA....
. His main interests are mission, worship, peace, and ecclesiastical history (especially the early church and Anabaptism).
Education
Alan Kreider was educated at Goshen CollegeGoshen College
Goshen College, is a private Mennonite liberal arts college in Goshen, Indiana, USA with an enrollment of around 1,000 students. The college is accredited by North Central Association of Colleges and Schools and is a member of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities...
, Indiana (BA 1962), Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
(1962-63), Heidelberg University (1963-64), Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
(AM 1965) (PhD 1971), and the University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
(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
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
and his name was added to the Register of Congregation
Congregation (university)
A Congregation is a formal meeting of senior members of a university, especially in the United Kingdom.Examples include the Regent House in the University of Cambridge, and the House of Congregation and the Ancient House of Congregation in the University of Oxford.In recent times, very few...
.
Goshen College
Alan Kreider was Assistant and Associate Professor of History at Goshen CollegeGoshen College
Goshen College, is a private Mennonite liberal arts college in Goshen, Indiana, USA with an enrollment of around 1,000 students. The college is accredited by North Central Association of Colleges and Schools and is a member of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities...
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 ManchesterUniversity of Manchester
The University of Manchester is a public research university located in Manchester, United Kingdom. It is a "red brick" university and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities and the N8 Group...
and as Theologian in Residence at the Northern Baptist College. During this period he was also a Visiting Lecturer at the Eastern Mennonite Seminary
Eastern Mennonite Seminary
Eastern Mennonite Seminary is the graduate theological division of Eastern Mennonite University , which is an accredited Christian liberal arts university in Harrisonburg, Virginia. EMU was initially established as Eastern Mennonite College in 1917...
(1991) and at the Bible College of New Zealand
Bible College of New Zealand
Laidlaw College, formerly known as Bible College of New Zealand , is an evangelical Bible college in New Zealand. The college offers tertiary courses in biblical, theological, historical and pastoral studies. It also offers teaching and counseling degrees...
(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 CollegeRegent's Park College, Oxford
Regent's Park College is a Permanent Private Hall in the University of Oxford, situated in central Oxford, just off St Giles.The College admits both undergraduate and graduate students to take Oxford degrees in a variety of Arts, Humanities and Social Science subjects...
and a member of the Oxford University
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
Theology Faculty
Theology Faculty of the University of Oxford
The Faculty of Theology, University of Oxford, co-ordinates the teaching of theology at the University of Oxford, England.The Theology Faculty Centre is at 34 St Giles' in central Oxford.- History :...
.
Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary
Alan Kreider served as an adjunct faculty member of Associated Mennonite Biblical SeminaryAssociated Mennonite Biblical Seminary
Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary is an accredited Christian seminary in Elkhart, Indiana, affiliated with Mennonite Church Canada and Mennonite Church USA....
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.
Other activities
As a public speaker, Alan Kreider has taken part in a debate on the arms race with Marshal of the Royal Air ForceMarshal of the Royal Air Force
Marshal of the Royal Air Force is the highest rank in the Royal Air Force. In peacetime it was granted to RAF officers in the appointment of Chief of the Defence Staff, and to retired Chiefs of the Air Staff, who were promoted to it on their last day of service. Promotions to the rank have ceased...
The Lord Cameron of Balhousie
Neil Cameron, Baron Cameron of Balhousie
Marshal of the Royal Air Force Neil Cameron, Baron Cameron of Balhousie, KT, GCB, CBE, DSO, DFC was a senior officer in the Royal Air Force...
as part of the London Lectures on Contemporary Christianity at All Souls Church, Langham Place
All Souls Church, Langham Place
All Souls Church is an Anglican Evangelical church in central London, situated in Marylebone at the north end of Regent Street on Langham Place, just south of BBC Broadcasting House. As well as the core church membership, many hundreds of visitors come to All Souls, bringing the average number of...
(1982) and with Lord Trefgarne, Edward Leigh
Edward Leigh
Edward Julian Egerton Leigh is a British Conservative politician. He has sat in the House of Commons as the Member of Parliament for Gainsborough in Lincolnshire since 1997, and for its predecessor constituency of Gainsborough and Horncastle between 1983 and 1997...
MP, and Canon Paul Oestreicher
Paul Oestreicher
Paul Oestreicher is an Anglican priest.-Life and work:In 1938, shortly after he began school, his family had to leave Germany due to the Jewish ancestry of his father, the paediatrician Paul Oestreicher . They moved to New Zealand, where he grew up...
, at the Cambridge Union Society
Cambridge Union Society
The Cambridge Union Society, commonly referred to as simply "the Cambridge Union" or "the Union," is a debating society in Cambridge, England and is the largest society at the University of Cambridge. Since its founding in 1815, the Union has developed a worldwide reputation as a noted symbol of...
(1983). In 1997 he preached at the Mennonite World Conference
Mennonite World Conference
The Mennonite World Conference is a global community of Christian churches that facilitates community between Anabaptist-related churches and relates to other Christian world communions and organizations....
in Calcutta and in 2001 he delivered three speeches in Japan to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the Japanese Mennonite Church.
Alan Kreider (sometimes with his wife, Eleanor) has given the Staley Lectures at Goshen College
Goshen College
Goshen College, is a private Mennonite liberal arts college in Goshen, Indiana, USA with an enrollment of around 1,000 students. The college is accredited by North Central Association of Colleges and Schools and is a member of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities...
(1987 and 2001), the Laing Lecture at London Bible College (1994), the Tyndale Christian Doctrine Lecture at the Tyndale Fellowship, Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
(1996), the Schrag Lectures and Sider Peace Lectures at Messiah College
Messiah College
Messiah College is a private Christian college of the liberal arts and applied arts and sciences located in Grantham, Pennsylvania, near the capital city of Harrisburg...
, Pennsylvania (2001, 2007), the Menno Simons Lectures at Bethel College
Bethel College (Kansas)
Bethel College is a private college affiliated with Mennonite Church USA. The college is located on the edge of the Flint Hills and the vast wheat fields of south central Kansas in the town of North Newton...
, Kansas (2001), the Believers Church Lectures at Fresno Pacific University
Fresno Pacific University
Fresno Pacific University also known as FPU is an accredited Christian university located in Fresno, California, United States. It was founded in 1944 by the Pacific District Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches. The university awarded its first bachelor of arts degree in 1965...
, California, (2002), the Athol Gill Memorial Lecture at Whitley College
Whitley College
Whitley College is one of the twelve residential colleges of the University of Melbourne. Unlike most colleges, Whitley College is not located on college crescent but rather is placed slightly further north at 271 Royal Parade, Victoria, Australia...
, Melbourne, Australia (2005), and the Annual Lecture at the Macquarie Christian Studies Institute, Sydney (2005). He has been Senior Mission Scholar in Residence at the Overseas Ministries Study Center, New Haven, Connecticut (2005).
Alan 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).
Works
Kreider's publications include:- English Chantries: The Road to Dissolution (Cambridge, Mass; London: Harvard University Press, 1979) - North American Conference on British Studies, Jon Ben Snow Prize, Honorable Mention (1980)
- Jean Michel Hornus, It Is Not Lawful For Me to Fight: Early Christian Attitudes Toward War, Violence, and the State (translated with Oliver Coburn) (Scottdale, Pa.: Herald Press, 1980)
- War: Christian Attitudes (Nottingham: n.p., 1983)
- Time to Choose: A Grass Roots Study Guide on the Nuclear Arms Race from a Christian Perspective (et al.) (Lytchett Minster, Poole, Dorset: Celebration, 1983)
- Journey Towards Holiness: A Way of Living for God's People (Basingstoke: Marshall Pickering, 1986; Scottdale, Pa.: Herald Press, 1987) - The Other Side Magazine Book of the Year (1987); Silver Angel Award for Religion in Media (1987); translated into Japanese (2001)
- Handling Problems of Peace and War: An Evangelical Debate (with John Stott and Jerram Barrs, ed. J. Andrew Kirk) (Basingstoke: Marshall Pickering, 1988)
- 'Abolishing the Laity: An Anabaptist Perspective on Ordination,' in Paul Beasley-Murray, ed., Anyone for Ordination? (Tunbridge Wells: Monarch, 1993), 84-111
- Worship and Evangelism in Pre-Christendom (Cambridge: Grove Books, 1995); translated into Korean (2003)
- Culture and the Nonconformist tradition (edited with Jane ShawJane ShawThe Very Revd Dr Jane Alison Shaw is Dean of Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, a British Anglican priest and scholar.Shaw read Modern History at Regent's Park College, Oxford , and Theology at Harvard University , and completed a PhD in History at the University of California, Berkeley...
) (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1999) - The Change of Conversion and the Origin of Christendom (Harrisburg, Pa.: Trinity Press International, 1999)
- Becoming a Peace Church (with Eleanor Kreider) (London: New Ground published in association with HHSC Christian Press, 2000); translated into Korean (2003)
- Coming Home: Stories of Anabaptists in Britain and Ireland (edited with Stuart Murray) (Waterloo, Ont.: Pandora Press, 2000)
- Christianity and the Culture of Economics (edited with Donald A. Hay) (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2001)
- The Origins of Christendom in the West (ed. and contributor) (Edinburgh; New York: T&T Clark, 2001)
- Composing music for worship (edited with Stephen DarlingtonStephen DarlingtonStephen Darlington is a British choral director and conductor, and president of the Royal College of Organists from 1999-2001.During the early 1970s Darlington was organ scholar at Christ Church, Oxford, studying under Simon Preston...
) (Norwich: Canterbury Press, 2003) - 'Military Service in the Church Orders', in Journal of Religious Ethics vol. 31, no. 3 (2003), 415-442
- 'Peacemaking in Worship in the Syrian Church Orders', in Studia Liturgica (2004), 177-190
- A Culture of Peace: God’s Vision for the Church (with Eleanor Kreider and Paulus Widjaja) (Intercourse, Pa.: Good Books, 2005); translated into German (2008)
- 'Beyond Bosch: The Early Church and the Christendom Shift', Mission Focus Annual Review 11, Supplement (2003), 158-177; also International Bulletin of Missionary Research vol. 29, no. 2 (2005), 59-68
- 'Baptism and Catechesis as Spiritual Formation,' in Andrew Walker and Luke Bretherton, eds., Remembering Our Future: Explorations in Deep Church (Milton Keynes: Paternoster Press, 2007), 170-206
- 'Violence and Mission in the Fourth and Fifth Centuries: Lessons for Today,' International Bulletin of Missionary Research vol. 31, no. 3 (2007), 125-133
- 'Ancient Church,' and 'Christendom,' in Jonathan J. Bonk, ed., Encyclopedia of Mission and Missionaries (New York and London: Routledge, 2007), 13-14, 73-78.
- 'They alone know the right way to live: The Early Church and Evangelism,'in Mark Husbands and Jeffrey P. Greenman, eds., Ancient Faith for the Church's Future (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2008), 169-186.
- Social Holiness: A Way of Living for God’s Nation (foreword by Dale M. Coulter, a new edition of Journey Towards Holiness) (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2008)
- Resident But Alien: How the Early Church Grew (6 DVD presentations on 2 discs) (Harpenden, Herts, UK: Great Commission Distribution Ltd, 2009)
- 'Testimony as Sharing Hope: A sermon on Matthew 8.3-13; 1 Peter 2.11-12; 3.13-17a', Vision: A Journal for Church and Theology vol. 10, no. 2 (2009), 80-88
- 'Learning to Live Like Christians: On the Peace Witness of the Early Church',The Sign of Peace: Journal of the Catholic Peace Fellowship vol. 9, no. 1 (2010), 21-24
- Worship and Mission After Christendom (with Eleanor Kreider) (Milton Keynes, UK: Paternoster Press, 2009; Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 2011)