Kenneth S. Kantzer (March 29, 1917 – June 20, 2002) was an American theologian and educator in the

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual expe ...

Christian tradition.

Life and career

He was born Detroit, Michigan, United States. Kantzer, having studied at

Faith Theological Seminary Faith Theological Seminary is an unaccredited evangelical Christian seminary in Baltimore, Maryland. It was founded in 1937 in Wilmington, Delaware, moved to Philadelphia in 1952, and then moved to Maryland in 2004. History In response to the Pr ...

, Trinity Seminary and Bible College, and earned a Ph.D. in Philosophy and Religion from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

(1950), was a professor of biblical and systematic theology and academic dean of

Trinity Evangelical Divinity School Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS) is an academic divinity school founded in 1897 and located in the northern Chicago suburb of Deerfield, Illinois. It is part of and located on the main campus of Trinity International University. It� ...

(TEDS) from 1960 to 1978. There he helped to grow TEDS from a small denominational seminary to a major evangelical Christian graduate school with a national and international reputation. In 1968 he also served as president of the

Evangelical Theological Society The Evangelical Theological Society (ETS) is a professional society of Biblical scholars, educators, pastors, and students "devoted to the inerrancy and inspiration of the Scriptures and the gospel of Jesus Christ" and "dedicated to the oral exch ...

. From 1977 to 1982, he was editor of '' Christianity Today'', and, from 1982 to 1984, was president of

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

Deerfield, Illinois Deerfield is a north shore suburb of Chicago in Lake County, Illinois, United States, with a small portion extending into Cook County, Illinois. The population was 19,196 at the 2020 census. Deerfield is home to the headquarters of Walgreens Bo ...

. He later returned to Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and helped found its Ph.D. program. Kantzer was known as a defender of the doctrine of

biblical inerrancy Biblical inerrancy is the belief that the Bible "is without error or fault in all its teaching"; or, at least, that "Scripture in the original manuscripts does not affirm anything that is contrary to fact". Some equate inerrancy with biblical ...

, attempting to articulate this doctrine in such a way as to avoid the rigidity of

fundamentalist Christianity Christian fundamentalism, also known as fundamental Christianity or fundamentalist Christianity, is a religious movement emphasizing biblical literalism. In its modern form, it began in the late 19th and early 20th centuries among British and ...

while answering the objections of Christian liberalism. Through his teaching and his leadership at TEDS and his work at '' Christianity Today'', Kantzer made a significant contribution to the growth of evangelicalism for more than forty years. He died in 2002, Victoria, Canada.

Works

Books

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Articles and chapters

* * - this chapter is an edited reprint of a chapter entitled "Evangelicals and the Inerrancy Question" - 1979 Kenneth S. Kantzer Kenneth Kantzer, "Evangelicals and Inerrancy"edited reprint of a chapter entitled "" in Evangelical Roots * *

Life and career

Works

Books

Articles and chapters

Festschrift

References

Further reading