John E. Wilson 

 

(John Elbert Wilson, Jr.)            jwilson@pts.edu

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Professor Emeritus of Church History, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary

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John Wilson taught at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary from 1984 until 2013. In 1999 he was named vice president for academic affairs and dean of the faculty and served in this capacity until June 2005. In 1996 he was a visiting professor at the Protestant Theological Faculty of Charles University in Prague. Before coming to Pittsburgh he was a parish minister in the Swiss Reformed Church, serving parishes 1972-1984 in Kantons Graubünden and Aargau. During this time he was also involved in research and in studies at the Theological Faculty of the University of Basel. In the early 1970's he was academic assistant to Prof. Heinrich Ott. His B.A. is from Emory University (1964), his B.D. from Drew University Theological School (1967), and his Ph.D. from Claremont Graduate University (1975). He holds the habilitation in theology (Dr. theol. habil.) from the University of Basel (1983), where he briefly taught as Privatdozent in church history before answering the call to Pittsburgh. He is married to Nana née Watson; they have three adult children and three grandchildren.