Myron Augsburger

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Myron Augsburger
Born
Myron Augsburger

(1929-08-20) August 20, 1929 (age 94)
Speaker, evangelist, professor of theology
Known forFormer President of Eastern Mennonite College

Myron Augsburger (born August 20, 1929) is an American

Mennonite pastor, professor, theologian, and author. He is the former president of both Eastern Mennonite College (now known as Eastern Mennonite University) and the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities.[1]

Early life

Augsburger was born in Elida, Ohio. He is one of six children, Fred, Donald, Anna Mary, Daniel and David, born to Clarence and Estella Augsburger. On November 28, 1950 he married Esther L. Kniss (creator of Guns into Plowshares) in Elida, Ohio. They have three children, John Myron, Michael David, and Marcia Louise.[2]

Education

Augsburger received his Junior College Bible Diploma (1950) from

Princeton Seminary during 1980–81.[2]

Early career

During the years 1955–1961, while he was pursuing various degrees, he worked as an evangelist for Christian Layman’s Tent Evangelism (CLTE).[4] CLTE was a Mennonite evangelical organization founded in Kidron, Ohio, in the early 1950s and in operation until the early 1960s.[5] Augsburger continued to serve as an evangelist and speaker to large crowds throughout his career including: Staley Distinguished Christian Scholar, in Staley Foundation Lectures, for over 60 campuses, serving the Evangelical Fellowship of India in Conventions across India in 1964, 1969, 1973, speaker at the MarThoma Convention, Kerala, South India, February 2008.[2]

In 1960 Augsburger attended the first National Christian Leadership Breakfast with President Dwight D. Eisenhower. In 1961 Augsburger took a position as an evangelist with InterChurch, Inc., where he preached and ran city-wide meetings intermittently until 1996, at times drawing in as many as 7,000 people.[3][dead link]

Mid-career

Starting in 1963, Augsburger began his professorial career at

Houghton College.[citation needed
]

In 1969, Augsburger was named one of the five most influential "preachers of an active gospel" by Time magazine. The magazine noted that he was a "dedicated integrationist and pacifist".[6] That same year Augsburger founded the Mennonite Christian Leadership Foundation which was later integrated with the organization Global Disciples in 2000.[7]

In 1971, Augsburger joined with other college presidents to found the Christian College Consortium. In 1976, he also participated in the founding of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities, an organization he would later go on to become president of.[8]

In 1980, Augsburger left EMC after a fifteen-year presidency. His time was marked by the completion of a new library and science center, as well as an increased profile for the university.[3][dead link]

As a well-known evangelist, Myron had the vision and stature to guide EMC from being a rather insular school – one that lacked art, instrumental music, drama and intercollegiate athletics – to rapidly growing into a national player among Christian liberal arts colleges. - Phil Helmuth EMU’s executive director of development[9]

Later career

After leaving the EMC presidency in 1980 Augsburger moved to New Jersey to become a scholar in residence at Princeton Theological Seminary. In the spring of 1981, Myron and Esther Augsburger were asked by the Mennonite Board of Missions to start a church in Washington, DC. The a church they founded on Capitol Hill, Washington Community Fellowship, continues to this day.[10] Augsburger remained on the pastoral staff there until 1987.[citation needed]

In September 1987 the Augsburgers spent a semester at Union Biblical Seminary in Pune, India. During their time there Myron taught courses and Esther (a renowned artist) built a nine-foot sculpture of Jesus washing Peter’s feet.[3][dead link] [11] During this time he also began his work as Moderator of the General Assembly of the General Conference Mennonite Church (now known as Mennonite Church USA), which he held for two years.[citation needed]

In May 1988 Augsburger became president of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU). During his time at CCCU the coalition sponsored the Through the Eyes of Faith books and conferences on a variety of topics, opened the Los Angeles Film Studies Center, and partnered with the Centre of Medieval and Renaissance Studies in Oxford, among other things. His tenure was characterized by a focus on racial and ethnic diversity.[8] This global focus and concentration on social justice issues and peace theology caused some coalition college presidents to question whether he was pulling the coalition to the left.[12] Augsburger served as president of the CCCU until 1994.[13]

During his tenure as president of the CCCU Augsburger advocated for a focus on Russia and led a team to Moscow to give lectures. Later, he returned to Russia to work with other evangelical leaders on developing the Russian American Christian University (opened in 1995), now known as the Russian American Institute.[14]

During this period Augsburger was a visiting or adjunct professor at a variety of institutions, notably:

Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Elkhart, Indiana (currently known as Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary; Union Biblical Seminary, Pune, India; Messerite Christian College, Addis Abba, Ethiopia; and Evangelical Theological Seminary, Osijek, Croatia.[15]

Augsburger continues to write books and to work in various positions of education and ministry. He also has served on a number of boards, including the board of reference for Christians for Biblical Equality and their publication Priscilla Papers,[16] the Evangelical Environmental Network, Evangelicals for Social Action, Call for Renewal, and others.[2]

Books authored

References

  1. ^ "History". Archived from the original on September 4, 2014. Retrieved September 3, 2014.
  2. ^ a b c d "Myron Augsburger Bio". Archived from the original on September 4, 2014. Retrieved September 3, 2014.
  3. ^ a b c d "Myron and Esther Augsburger Timeline". Archived from the original on September 18, 2014. Retrieved September 11, 2014.
  4. ISBN 1894710223
    .
  5. ^ Nussbaum, Judie (Fall 2013), "Hammer's Link to Kidron" (PDF), Bit O' Vit: The Kidron Community Historical Society Newsletter, 26 (4): 2, archived from the original (PDF) on September 11, 2014
  6. ^ "Religion: Preachers of an Active Gospel", Time Magazine, 94 (12), September 19, 1969
  7. ^ "Mennonite Christian Leadership Foundation". Archived from the original on September 18, 2014. Retrieved September 11, 2014.
  8. ^ a b "History". Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. Council for Christian Colleges & Universities. July 26, 2016. Retrieved August 26, 2016.
  9. ^ Price Lofton, Bonnie (March 2, 2014). "The continuing legacy of the Augsburgers". Retrieved September 11, 2014.
  10. ^ "Washington Community Fellowship".
  11. ^ "MWC Asia Caucus strengthens identity and looks to future". January 11, 2012. Retrieved September 11, 2014.
  12. ^ Patterson, James (2001), "Defining Evangelicalism's Boundaries In Christian Higher Education: A Case Study Of The Council For Christian Colleges & Universities", National Meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society, Colorado Springs, Colorado, p. 19 http://www.reclaimingthemind.org/papers/ets/2001/Patterson/Patterson.pdf {{citation}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  13. ^ "Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) Records, 1973–2002: Wheaton College Archives & Special Collections: By The Wheaton College Archives & Special Collections Staff". Retrieved September 11, 2014.
  14. ^ "About RAI". Archived from the original on September 18, 2014. Retrieved September 11, 2014.
  15. ^ "Evangelical Theological Seminary, Faculty and Administration". Retrieved February 16, 2018.
  16. ^ "Autumn 2010" (PDF), Priscilla Papers, 24 (4), 2010
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