William Ragsdale Cannon (April 5, 1916 – May 11, 1997) 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 University of Georgia in Athens in 1937, and from Yale Divinity School, New Haven, Connecticut in 1940. He earned his Ph.D. degree from Yale University in 1942.

Ordained and academic ministry

Cannon served churches in Oxford before joining the faculty of Candler School of Theology, Emory University in 1943. From 1953 until 1968 Cannon served as the dean of the seminary. In the mid-1960s Dean Cannon defended Emory's retention of Religion Professor

Thomas J.J. Altizer Thomas Jonathan Jackson Altizer (May 28, 1927 – November 28, 2018) was an American university professor, religious scholar, and theologian, noted for his incorporation of Death of God theology and Hegelian dialectical philosophy into his body o ...

, 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 Protestant observer at the Vatican II Council of the 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 Raleigh Episcopal Area (1968–72), the

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

Area (1970–72), 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 Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

. 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 The Confessing Movement is a largely lay-led theologically conservative Christian movement that opposes the influence of theological liberalism and theological progressivism within several mainline Protestant denominations and seeks to retu ...

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.

Biographies

*Cannon, William Ragsdale, A Magnificent Obsession: The Autobiography of William Ragsdale Cannon, Nashville, Abingdon Press, 1999. *Freeman, G. Ross, ''"Georgia's Methodist Bishops,"'' Historical Highlights 8 (June 1978): 5-23.
Article on William Ragsdale Cannon at New Georgia Encyclopedia

References

*The Council of Bishops of the United Methodist Churc

*InfoServ, the official information service of The United Methodist Churc

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cannon, William Ragsdale 1916 births 1997 deaths American university and college faculty deans Arminian ministers Arminian theologians Asbury University people Duke University trustees Emory University faculty Methodist theologians Presidents of United Methodist seminaries Seminary academics United Methodist bishops of the Southeastern Jurisdiction University of Georgia alumni Yale Divinity School alumni