William Willimon

William H. Willimon (b. 1946) is a Bishop in The United Methodist Church, currently serving in North Alabama. He was Dean of the Chapel and Professor of Christian Ministry at Duke University from 1984 to 2004. Willimon earned degrees from Wofford College (B.A., 1968), Yale Divinity School (M.Div., 1971) and Emory University (S.T.D., 1973).

Willimon has stressed the narrative of the Bible as opposed to systematic theology, which places him firmly within the school of narrative theology.

He was elected to the episcopacy in 2004, and was named in a 1996 Baylor University survey along with Billy Graham as one of the Twelve Most Effective Preachers in the English-speaking world. Willimon has written more than 50 books, and was found to be the second most-widely read author by Mainline Protestant pastors in a 2005 study by the Pulpit and Pew Research Center.

Publications

 * Pastor: The Theology and Practice of Ordained Ministry ISBN 0687045320
 * Resident Aliens: Life in the Christian Colon (with Stanley Hauerwas) ISBN 0687361591
 * Calling & Character: Virtues of the Ordained Life ISBN 0687090334
 * Acts in the Interpretation commentary series ISBN 0804231192
 * Rekindling the Flame: Strategies for a Vital United Methodism (with Robert L. Wilson) ISBN 0687359325
 * "To the Church Called Mainline" in Christianity Today (Oct. 25, 1999 issue)