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Faculty

Dr. Dale T. Irvin

Director of Strategic Planning and Professor of World Christianity

Dr. Dale T. Irvin, Director of Strategic Planning and Professor of World Christianity

Dr. Dale T. Irvin serves as Director of Strategic Planning and Professor of World Christianity at the New School of Biblical Theology. He holds two designations in one position. As Director of Strategic Planning he leads NSBT’s institutional strategic planning and the reporting that measures the institution against its plan, and as Professor of World Christianity he teaches in the institution’s graduate programs as a faculty member of record. He carries institution-wide responsibility for academic, programmatic, and organizational direction and works directly with the Executive Vice President on the development and execution of institutional strategy. He is one of the three faculty of record who carry the teaching of the two graduate programs, and he reports to the Executive Vice President.

NSBT develops its curricula on the expertise of the faculty and academic leadership who designed its online graduate programs, and Dr. Irvin is the chief architect and designer of NSBT’s curriculum. He aligns curriculum development with NSBT’s strategic goals and standards of academic excellence and advises on the theological and academic formation of the Master of Arts in Christian Ministry (MACM) and the Master of Arts in Global Christian Leadership (MAGL). He led online and hybrid program development as President of New York Theological Seminary before bringing that experience to NSBT’s fully online design. Faculty author materials that exist only for NSBT students: Dr. Irvin’s study guides on Christ and Culture, on public theology, and on what the Qur’an has to say about Christians are unpublished papers assigned as course readings.

As Professor of World Christianity he teaches the courses assigned by the Academic Dean and Director of Admissions and serves as capstone lead reader where assigned. He teaches MA210 Introduction to Theology in Global Context.

A scholar of world Christianity, ecumenical studies, and contextual theology, he holds the Doctor of Philosophy in Ecumenical Studies from Union Theological Seminary in New York (1989), the Master of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, New Jersey (1981), and the Bachelor of Arts from Thomas Edison State College in Trenton, New Jersey (1977). He is ordained in the American Baptist Churches USA and is a member of The Riverside Church in New York. He served 13 years as President of New York Theological Seminary (2006–2019), where he was also Vice President for Academic Affairs and Academic Dean (2002–2006), Professor of Contextual Theology (1989–1997), and Professor of World Christianity (1997–2020). As President he led academic programs, faculty development, curriculum review, and the operations of a graduate-level theological school.

He was Instructor in Ecumenical Studies at Union Theological Seminary in New York (1998–1999) and Visiting Professor in the Department of Theology at the University of Uppsala, Sweden (1993). He has held adjunct appointments at Georgetown University’s Department of Theology and Religious Studies (2020–2022), New Brunswick Theological Seminary (2004–2005), Wake Forest University Divinity School (2003–2004), Regent University Divinity School (2004), Drew University School of Theology (1995–2002), and the College of New Rochelle School of New Resources (1985–1994). From 2019 to 2021 he was Senior Fellow of the Colangelo Carpenter Innovation Center of Leadership Foundations. His earlier ministry included service as Pastoral Associate at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Ocean Grove, New Jersey (1987–1989), as Pastoral Care Supervisor at St. Joseph’s Home for Children in Minneapolis (1981–1983), and in Community Ministries at Old Pine Street Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia (1979–1980).

He is the author or editor of seven books, including the multi-volume History of the World Christian Movement co-written with Scott W. Sunquist, and of numerous chapters in scholarly volumes. The first volume was named to the “Outstanding Academic Title” list of Choice magazine in 2002, selected by the Catholic Book Association as the outstanding book in theology and history for 2001, and listed by the International Bulletin of Missionary Research as one of the 15 outstanding books in mission studies for 2001. He has contributed chapters to 27 edited volumes, two of them forthcoming, and 21 articles to scholarly journals, among them Christianity Today, The Ecumenical Review, the International Bulletin of Missionary Research, the Journal of Ecumenical Studies, the Journal of Pentecostal Theology, and The Journal of World Christianity. He has written eight entries for six reference works, including the Cambridge Dictionary of Christianity, the Encyclopedia of Christian Civilization, and the Encyclopedia of Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity. His book reviews appeared from 1992 through 2011 in journals including the Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Christian Century, Church History, and the International Bulletin of Missionary Research.

He is founding co-editor of The Journal of World Christianity, published since 2016 by Penn State University Press, and co-editor with Peter C. Phan of the World Christianity series for Penn State University Press (2016–present) and of the Christianities of the World series published by Palgrave Macmillan (2012–2016). He was a member of the Editorial Board of, and a regular contributor to, The Living Pulpit (1997–2018), and Guest Contributing Editor of the Union Seminary Quarterly Review’s James Melvin Washington memorial volume (1998). His guest lectures, plenary addresses, panel presentations, and consultations from 1995 through 2023 include the Association for Theological Education in South East Asia Teachers’ Academy in Bangkok and Malaysia, the Princeton Theological Seminary Conferences on World Christianity, Ecclesiological Investigations International in Toronto, Hong Kong, Georgetown, and Belgrade, and the Overseas Ministries Study Center. Other venues include Centro Pro Unione in Rome, the American Academy of Religion, Baylor University, the International Association for Mission Studies, Central Philippine University, Catholic Theological Union, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Fuller Theological Seminary.

Books

  • Christian Mission, Contextual Theology, Prophetic Dialogue: Essays in Honor of Stephen B. Bevans, SVD, co-edited with Peter C. Phan (Orbis Books, 2018)
  • The Protestant Reformation and World Christianity: Global Perspectives, editor (William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2017)
  • History of the World Christian Movement: Volume I, Earliest Christianity to 1453, co-written with Scott W. Sunquist (Orbis Books and T & T Clark, 2001)
  • History of the World Christian Movement: Volume II, Modern Christianity 1454 to 1800, co-written with Scott W. Sunquist (Orbis Books, 2012)
  • History of the World Christian Movement: Volume III, Modern Christianity 1800 to 2000, co-written with Scott W. Sunquist (Orbis Books, forthcoming)
  • Christian Histories, Christian Traditioning: Rendering Accounts (Orbis Books, 1998)
  • The Agitated Mind of God: The Theology of Kosuke Koyama, co-edited with Akintunde E. Akinade (Orbis Books, 1996)
  • Hearing Many Voices: Dialogue and Diversity in the Ecumenical Movement (University Press of America, 1994)

He has chaired the Ecclesiological Investigations International Research Network since 2019, succeeding founding chair Gerard Mannion, and has been a member of the network since 2010. He is a member of the American Theological Society (2012–present), the American Academy of Religion (1989–present), the American Society for Church History (1998–present), and the Society for Pentecostal Studies (1995–present). Within the American Academy of Religion he co-chaired the World Christianity Unit Steering Committee (2004–2011) and served on the History of Christianity Unit (2012–2017), and he was a Council Member of the American Society for Church History (2020–2021). He was a member of U.S. Academics for Peace (2013–2018) and of the International Association for Mission Studies (1994–2010). From 1998 to 2003 he served on the Faith and Order Commission of the National Council of Churches of Christ U.S.A., representing the American Baptist Churches, and from 2000 to 2006 he was consultant and proxy member of the board of the Foundation for a Faith and Order Conference in North America. He has served as a Trustee of the Center of Theological Inquiry in Princeton, New Jersey (2011–2021), and of three New York institutions: the Blanton-Peale Institute (2008–2019), The Interchurch Center (2009–2019), and The Victor E. Pearly Foundation (2011–2019).