April 24, 2024
We are pleased to announce that Mark Tooley, president of the Institute on Religion and Democracy and a leading thinker in today’s Methodist movement, will give the address at our 47th Annual Commencement Ceremony on Saturday, May 4th. WBS will present Tooley with an honorary doctorate at that time.
“Mark Tooley has become a critical voice serving the church in our time,” said Dr. Andy Miller, Academic Vice President. “As Biblical authority has been challenged by the administrative hubs of mainline denominations, Mark Tooley has been a key voice serving theological orthodox Christians and churches by bringing accountability to their systems. Without Mark Tooley’s obedient leveraging of his gifts, the Methodist renewal that is currently being experienced would not be possible. Sometimes his opponents have publicly derided him, but Mark has faithfully contended for the “faith once for all delivered to the saints” on behalf of faithful churches. Mark is a leader, scholar, public commentator, and facilitator who is one of the unsung heroes of this Methodist moment.”
A graduate of Georgetown University, Mark served for eight years in the CIA before joining the IRD in 1994, becoming its president in 2009. After writing a report in 1988 for his local congregation (in Alexandria, Virginia) on how denominational funding was being used to support pro-Marxist groups, he became an outspoken advocate for church renewal, and has continued to be a key voice in shaping the vision for the “next Methodism.”
He is the editor of Providence: A Journal of Christianity and American Foreign Policy and the author of Taking Back The United Methodist Church (2008), Methodism and Politics in the 20th Century: From William McKinley to 9/11 (2012), and The Peace That Almost Was: The Forgotten Story of the 1861 Washington Peace Conference and the Final Attempt to Avert the Civil War (2015), as well as having contributed chapters to several books including The Next Methodism: Theological, Social, and Missional Foundations for Global Methodism (2022), and Social Conservatism for the Common Good: A Protestant Engagement with Robert P. George (2023).
An honorary degree is Wesley Biblical Seminary’s most significant non-academic accolade. It is the policy of WBS to award honorary degrees on a selective basis to distinguished individuals who merit special recognition for their contribution to the church and society. The Board of Trustees and the Faculty Assembly authorize the award of an honorary degree.
As we prepare to honor and send forth our graduates to their next chapter in the mission to “spread scriptural holiness throughout the land,” we look forward to Mark’s words of encouragement, wisdom, and inspiration for us all, and will be proud to count him among our recipients of honorary degrees.