William Ragsdale Cannon (April 5, 1916 – May 11, 1997) was the dean of Candler School of Theology (1953-1968) and an 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 c ...

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 evangelic ...

, elected in 1968.

Birth and family

William was born in

Chattanooga, Tennessee Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020 ...

, the son of William Ragsdale and Emma McAfee Cannon. Bishop Cannon was raised in

Dalton, Georgia Dalton is a city and the county seat of Whitfield County, Georgia, United States. It is also the principal city of the Dalton Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Murray and Whitfield counties. As of the 2010 census, the ci ...

. He never married.

Education

William graduated from the

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

in 1937, and from

Yale Divinity School Yale Divinity School (YDS) is one of the twelve graduate and professional schools of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Congregationalist theological education was the motivation at the founding of Yale, and the professional school has ...

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134 ...

in 1940. He earned his

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

degree from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

in 1942.

Ordained and academic ministry

Cannon served churches in

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

before joining the faculty of

Candler School of Theology Candler School of Theology is one of seven graduate schools at Emory University, located in metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia. A university-based school of theology, Candler educates ministers, scholars of religion and other leaders. It is also o ...

Emory University Emory University is a private research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1836 as "Emory College" by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory, Emory is the second-oldest private institution of ...

in 1943. From 1953 until 1968 Cannon served as the

dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles * ...

of the seminary. In the mid-1960s Dean Cannon defended Emory's retention of

Religion Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

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 ...

, 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 James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 76th governor of Georgia from 1 ...

, Cannon served as an unofficial envoy of the President. Cannon had the high honor of being a

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

observer at the

Vatican II The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the , or , was the 21st ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. The council met in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome for four periods (or sessions), each lasting between 8 and ...

Council of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

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 Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

, 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 Wesleyan theology, otherwise known as Wesleyan– Arminian theology, or Methodist theology, is a theological tradition in Protestant Christianity based upon the ministry of the 18th-century evangelical reformer brothers John Wesley and Charle ...

positions. As a bishop he was assigned, successively, to the

Raleigh Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte. Raleigh is the tenth-most populous city in the Southeas ...

Episcopal Area (1968–72), the Richmond Area (1970–72), the

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

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 The World Methodist Council (WMC), founded in 1881, is a consultative body and association of churches in the Methodist tradition. It comprises 80 member denominations in 138 countries which together represent an estimated 80 million people; this ...

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.

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