Judith Craig is a

retired Retirement is the withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from one's active working life. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours or workload. Many people choose to retire when they are elderly or incapable of doing their j ...

American

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

of the

United Methodist Church The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was a leader in evangelical ...

, whose primary field of service was the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. She was born on 5 June 1937 in Lexington, Missouri and elected bishop in 1984.She died on January 18, 2019.

Education

She graduated (

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

) from

William Jewell College William Jewell College is a private liberal arts college in Liberty, Missouri. It was founded in 1849 by members of the Missouri Baptist Convention and endowed with $10,000 by William Jewell. It was associated with the Missouri Baptist Conventi ...

. She completed an

M.Div. For graduate-level theological institutions, the Master of Divinity (MDiv, ''magister divinitatis'' in Latin) is the first professional degree of the pastoral profession in North America. It is the most common academic degree in seminaries and di ...

degree at

Eden Theological Seminary Eden Theological Seminary is a seminary of the United Church of Christ in Webster Groves, Missouri, near St. Louis, Missouri. The seminary was established in 1850 by German pastors in what was then the American frontier. The pastors soon formed ...

in 1961, and an

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

in Christian Education from Union Theological Seminary in

New York City, New York New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in 1968.

Ordained ministry

Craig was ordained to the ministry of the United Methodist Church at the East Ohio Annual Conference, as a deacon in 1972 and as an elder in 1974, both ordinations by Bishop Francis Enmer Kearns. She was appointed Minister of Religious Education (later Associate Minister) of the Epworth-Euclid U.M. Church (1972–76). From 1976 to 1980 Craig was the Pastor of the Pleasant Hills U.M. Church. In 1980 Craig was appointed the Director of the East Ohio Conference Council on Ministries. Craig was elected a delegate to the 1980 and 1984 General and North Central Jurisdictional Conferences of the U.M. Church, in 1980 also serving as the Secretary of the Legislative Committee on Higher Education and Ministry of the General Conference.

Episcopal ministry

The North Central Jurisdictional Conference elected Craig a bishop in 1984. She was assigned to the

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

Area, 1984-92. In 1992 she was assigned the Ohio West Area, from which she retired in 2000. As a bishop, Craig served on the United Methodist General Commission on the Status and Role of Women (1984–88), the U.M. General Council on Ministries (1988–92), and the General Board of Publication. Bishop Craig received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from

Baldwin-Wallace College Baldwin Wallace University (BW) is a private university in Berea, Ohio. It was founded in 1845 as Baldwin Institute by Methodist businessman John Baldwin. The school merged with nearby German Wallace College in 1913 to become Baldwin-Wallace C ...

in 1979, another from

Adrian College Adrian College is a private liberal arts college in Adrian, Michigan. The college offers bachelor's degrees in 92 academic majors and programs. The 100 acre (0.40 km2) campus contains newly constructed facilities along with historic buil ...

in 1985, a Doctor of Divinity degree from

Otterbein College Otterbein University is a private university in Westerville, Ohio. It offers 74 majors and 44 minors as well as eight graduate programs. The university was founded in 1847 by the Church of the United Brethren in Christ and named for United Bre ...

in 1994, and another D.D. from

Lebanon Valley College Lebanon Valley College (LVC, Lebanon Valley, or The Valley) is a private college in Annville, Pennsylvania. History Lebanon Valley was founded on February 23, 1866, with classes beginning May 7 of that year and its first class graduating in 18 ...

(also 1994). In 1996 she was honored to be selected by her colleagues on the U.M. Council of Bishops to deliver the Episcopal Address at General Conference. In retirement, Bishop Craig has served as the Bishop in Residence and a Visiting Professor of Leadership at the Methodist Theological School in Ohio.

Works

* ''The Leading Women: Stories of the First Women Bishops of the United Methodist Church'' (editor)

References

*InfoServ, the official information service of The United Methodist Church.

*The Council of Bishops of the United Methodist Churc

External links