Copyright holder: Tyndale University, 3377 Bayview Ave., Toronto, Ontario, Canada M2M 3S4 Att.: Library Director, J. William Horsey Library Copyright: This Work has been made available by the authority of the copyright owner solely for the purpose of private study and research and may not be copied or reproduced except as permitted by the copyright laws of Canada without the written authority from the copyright owner. Copyright license: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License Citation: Carter, Craig A. “Kenneth Kantzer.” In The Biographical Dictionary of Evangelicals, edited by Timothy Larsen, 340-341. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2003. ***** Begin Content ****** TYNDALE UNIVERSITY 3377 Bayview Avenue Toronto, ON M2M 3S4 TEL: 416.226.6620 www.tyndale.ca Note: This Work has been made available by the authority of the copyright owner solely for the purpose of private study and research and may not be copied or reproduced except as permitted by the copyright laws of Canada without the written authority from the copyright owner. Carter, Craig. “Kenneth Kantzer.” In The Biographical Dictionary of Evangelicals, edited by Timothy Larsen, 340-341. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2003. [ Citation Page ] BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF EVANGELICALS Editor: Timothy Larsen, PhD, FRHistS Associate Professor of Theology, Wheaton College, IL, USA Consulting editors: D. W. Bebbington, Ph.D. Professor of History, University of Stirling Mark A. Noll, PhD McManis Professor of Christian Thought, Wheaton College, IL, USA Organizing editor: Steve Carter Reference Books Editor, Inter-Varsity Press, Leicester Inter-Varsity Press, Leicester, England InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois, USA [ Title Page ] INTER-VARSITY PRESS 38 De Montfort Street, Leicester LEI 7GP, England Email: ivp@uccf.org.uk Website: www.ivpbooks.com INTERVARSITY PRESS PO Box 1400, Downers Grove, Illinois 60515, USA Email: mail@ivpress.com Website: www.ivpress.com © Inter-Varsity Press 2003 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher or the Copyright Licensing Agency. Unless otherwise stated, Scripture quotations in this publication are from the Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. 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For more information about local and national activities write to UCCF, 38 De Montfort Street, Leicester LEI 7GP, email us at email@uccf.org.uk, or visit the UCCF website at www.uccf.org.uk. LnterVarsity Press is the book-publishing division of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA(R), a student movement active on campus at hundreds of universities, colleges and schools of nursing in the United States of America, and a member movement of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students. For information about local and regional activities, write to Public Relations Dept., InterVarsity Christian Fellowship USA, 6400 Schroeder Road, PO Box 7895, Madison, WI 53707-7895. [ Title Page Verso ] ■ KANTZER, Kenneth S. (1917-2002), theological educator, administrator and editor of Christianity Today, was a key figure in the resurgence of Protestant evangelical- ism in the United States during the second half of the twentieth century as a professor, editor, college and seminary administrator and senior statesman of the evangelical move- ment. Kantzer was born in Detroit on 29 March 1917, and graduated as BA from Ashland College in 1938. Ruth Forbes, who became his wife on 21 September 1939, helped to lead him to Christ. He made a profession of faith for the first time in 1935, at her com- mencement, a Wheaton College baccalaureate service. After earning an MA at Ohio State University in 1939, he attended Faith Semin- ary in Philadelphia and graduated with an MDiv in 1942 and an STM in 1943. Kantzer was ordained as a minister in the Evangelical Free Church in 1948. Having taught at The King’s College while studying at Faith, he then taught Hebrew at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary for two years while pastor of a church in Rockport. From 1946 to 1963 Kantzer taught and was chair of the department of Bible, Philosophy and Religious Education at Wheaton College. He completed a PhD in Philosophy and Religion from Harvard University in 1950 (his dis- sertation focused on the knowledge of God in the thought of John * Calvin) and under- took post-doctoral studies in Europe, at both Gottingen and Basel, in 1954. In 1963, Kantzer became the academic dean of the new Trinity Evangelical Divinity College, which at that time had fewer than forty students. He gave up the opportunity to take a sabbatical and write a book on Barth’s theology in order to take on the challenge of building a leading theological institution. He made a major contribution to the develop- ment of the divinity school into one of the leading evangelical theological seminaries in the world until 1978, when he was named ‘Dean Emeritus’. Beginning in 1978, Kantzer served for five years as editor-in-chief of Christianity Today and in 1984 he was named senior editor and dean of the research institute of Christianity Today. From 1982 to 1983 he served as president of Trinity College and helped to rescue it from collapse by persuading it to re- affiliate with the Evangelical Free Church. After 1983, he served as chancellor of the college. From 1984 to 1991 Kantzer taught at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and he served as director of the PhD programme from 1986 to 1990. Kantzer held four honorary doctorates (from Ashland Theological Seminary, Gordon College, John Brown University and Wheaton College) and served a term as president of the Evangelical Theological Society, in the leader- ship of which he played a significant role for many years. Kantzer was also a major figure in the work of the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy during the 1970s and 1980s. He edited several books, including Evangelical Roots: A Tribute to Wilbur Smith (1978), Perspectives on Evangelical Theology: Papers From the Thirtieth Annual Meeting of the Evangelical Society, with Stanley Gundry (1979) and Applying the Scriptures: Papers From the ICBI Summit III (1987). In addition to his many editorials in Christianity Today, he also wrote many popular articles and contributed to a number of edited volumes. Kantzer sacrificed the opportunity to en- gage in scholarly research and writing himself in order to give leadership to the evangelical movement in various ways at different times. It is interesting to note that while building Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, he put in place one of the most generous sabbatical programmes offered by any seminary, thus allowing others to do what he had found himself unable to do because of the time pressures of administration. Despite his unwavering advocacy or the doctrine of inerrancy as the hallmark of consistent evangelicalism, Kantzer exerted his considerable diplomatic skills and keen mind in an attempt to hold the evangelical coalition together. A word that readily conies to mind in thinking of Kantzer’s work is [ Page ] 340 ‘irenic’- As editor of Christianity Today, he attempted to combine doctrinal orthodoxy with a keen sense of the priority of mission and warm-hearted, practical ministry. Kantzer died on 20 June 2002 in Victoria, British Columbia. Bibliography J. D. Woodbridge and T. E. McComiskey (eds.), Doing Theology in Today’s World: Essays in Honour of Kenneth S. Kantzer (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1991). C. A. CARTER [ Page ] 34I ***** This is the end of the e-text. This e-text was brought to you by Tyndale University, J. William Horsey Library - Tyndale Digital Collections *****