wfn.org | Renowned Disciples historian and scholar Anthony Dunnavant dies

[wshuffit@oc.disciples.org]

Date: February 9, 2001
Disciples News Service
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Contact: Clifford L. Willis
E-mail: CWillis@oc.disciples.org
on the Web: http://www.disciples.org

01b-13

by Walter A. Johnson, Jr.
Director of Information Services
Lexington (Ky.) Theological Seminary

	LEXINGTON, Ky. (DNS) -- Lexington Theological Seminary is mourning the
loss of a colleague and good friend. Dean Anthony L. Dunnavant died
Thursday evening (Feb. 8). He was 46.

	Reflecting on Dunnavant's life and ministry, LTS President Richard L.
Harrison, Jr., said, "Anthony Dunnavant was an outstanding teacher and
historian of Christianity. He was a lover of the church and was profoundly
committed to ministry. His leadership as a scholar and as an advocate of
Christian unity has been appreciated world wide. 

	"This is a terrible loss to Lexington Theological Seminary as well as to
the church at large and higher education. Rarely have I encountered a
person so universally beloved."

	The Rev. Anthony L. Dunnavant  is survived by his wife, Jan, rector of the
Episcopal Church of the Resurrection, Lexington; four daughters, Erin,
Bridget, Caitlin, and Tara; two stepchildren, Sarah and Patrick; parents,
Ezra and Edith Dunnavant of Blackstone, Va.; brother, Terry Dunnavant of
Prairie Village, Kan.; and sisters, Nell Durham of Fairfax, Va., and Kay
Slonaker of Bowie, Md.

	Dunnavant joined the seminary faculty in 1987 and was named dean in March
1998. 

	A noted church historian, Professor Dunnavant's research and writing
centered on theology and church life of the Christian Church (Disciples of
Christ). He was the author of Central Christian Church: 175 Years in
Lexington, Kentucky (1991), Restructure (1993), and Backgrounds for
Congregational Portraits (1994). He was the editor of Cane Ridge in Context
(1992) and Poverty and Ecclesiology (1992) and co-editor with President
Harrison of Explorations in the Stone-Campbell Tradition and (with James O.
Duke, 1997) Christian Faith Seeking Historical Understanding.

	Dunnavant was an active member of Central Christian Church, Lexington.

	He was a member of the American Academy of Religion, the American Society
of Church History, the Association for the Sociology of Religion and the
Disciples of Christ Historical Society. He was a member of the board of
trustees of Cane Ridge Preservation Project. 

	A native of Maryland, Dunnavant grew up in Washington, D.C., and Fairmont,
W. Va. He held degrees from Fairmont (W.Va.) State College, West Virginia
University, and three degrees from Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn.
He was an ordained minister of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

	Funeral arrangements are incomplete at this time.

                                	 -- end --

(Note to Editors:  Photo of Tony Dunnavant available upon request or you
can donwload it from the DNS website at:
http://www.disciples.org/dns/index.htm )