William Ragsdale Cannon

William Ragsdale Cannon (April 5, 1916 – May 11, 1997^[1]) was the dean of Candler School of Theology (1953-1968) and an American bishop of the United Methodist Church, elected in 1968.

Birth and family

William was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, the son of William Ragsdale and Emma McAfee Cannon. Bishop Cannon was raised in Dalton, Georgia. He never married.

Education

William graduated from the

Ph.D. degree from Yale University

in 1942.

Ordained and academic ministry

Cannon served churches in

Thomas J.J. Altizer

, a proponent of the death-of-God position. This position later came to be known as the God is Dead controversy. Cannon also guided Candler through racial integration.

Cannon was regularly elected as a delegate to U.M. Jurisdictional and General Conferences, beginning in 1948. During the administration of Jimmy Carter, Cannon served as an unofficial envoy of the President.

Cannon had the high honor of being a

Roman Catholic Church in Rome in 1965. Later, as a bishop, he also observed the Extraordinary Synod of the R.C. Church in 1985. He became friends with Pope John Paul II

, who sent a statement to be read at Cannon's funeral in 1997.

Episcopal ministry

Cannon was highly influential in the Council of Bishops of the U.M. Church. For example, he delivered the episcopal address at the 1984 General Conference, the highest honor conferred on a bishop by his/her episcopal colleagues. As a bishop, Cannon stressed Christian education and evangelism, and was known for his classically orthodox, Wesleyan positions.

As a bishop he was assigned, successively, to the

Atlanta Area (1972–80), and the Raleigh Area again (1980–84). Cannon also served as a member of the board of trustees at Emory, Asbury College, and Duke University. He was a member of the executive committee of the World Methodist Council

for a time, as well.

He retired to Georgia in 1984, becoming bishop-in-residence at the Northside U.M.C. in Atlanta. In 1994 he was one of the principal founders of

The Confessing Movement

of the U.M. Church. This movement focused on the Church's mission to "retrieve its classical doctrinal identity, and to live it out as disciples of Christ."

Bishop Cannon died in 1997 at the Crawford Long Hospital in Atlanta. He is buried in West Hill Cemetery in Dalton. Cannon Chapel at Emory is named in his honor.

Selected writings

The History of Christianity in the Middle Ages
The Journeys After Saint Paul
The Theology of John Wesley: With Special Reference to the Doctrine of Justification, Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1946
Evangelism in a Contemporary Context, Nashville, Tidings, 1974.