Associate Professor of History and Theology (NYC Campus) |
Dr. Ware began teaching at Nyack in 2000 |
Degrees Earned: |
Ph. D., Drew University
S. T. M., Trinity Lutheran Seminary
M. Div., Oral Roberts University
B. A., Fort Wayne Bible College |
Publications: |
RESTORATIONISM IN THE HOLINESS MOVEMENT IN THE LATE NINETEENTH AND EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURIES. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 2004. ISBN: 0773463011
"Restorationism in Classical Pentecostalism." THE NEW INTERNATIONAL DICTIONARY OF PENTECOSTAL AND CHARISMATIC MOVEMENTS. Stanley M. Burgess, ed. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002.
"Premillennialism in the Holiness Movement in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries." ESSAYS ON PREMILLENNIALISM. K. Neill Foster and David E. Fessenden, eds. Camp Hill, PA: Christian Publications, 2002. |
Ministries: |
Occasional pulpit supply on Sunday mornings.
Teaching adult classes at local church.
Political analyst and panel member at local churches. |
Personal Questions |
Tell us about your spiritual journey. |
Although I was born and raised in a Christian family (Lutheran), I doubted and drifted from it during my teen years until a dramatic conversion experience one Summer between years in high school. While that experience obviously changed my eternal destiny and direction in life (for which I am eternally thankful), it also began a process of partial alienation from my Lutheran heritage. My subsequent spiritual growth took place in a number of formal (academic) and informal settings, and with persons of a wide variety of spiritual and ecclesiological backgrounds--charismatic, pentecostal, Methodist, Baptist, Wesleyan, Missionary, Christian and Missionary Alliance, Catholic, and Episcopalian.
By God's guidance I eventually returned to Lutheranism (along with my wife, who came from a Wesleyan background) and became an ordained minister. After several years of pastoral ministry I returned to graduate school and the academic world I had always loved. By divine grace I was able to complete a Ph. D. and begin a career at Nyack College two years later. |
Tell us about your family |
Wife: Rebecca (married 1977)
Children: Rachael (15)
Daniel (13)
Stephanie (10) |
Any outside interests or hobbies? |
I am an avid cyclist (bicyclist), averaging 1,500-2,000 miles per year.
Perhaps the most consuming interest/hobby for my wife and me in recent years has been renovating/keeping up our old house. |
How were you led to Nyack and/or why are you here? |
| My journey to Nyack College was basically one of being in the right place at the right time. We had moved to the Northeast (NJ) from the Midwest when I began grad school. After teaching in a number adjunct positions during grad school and thereafter (including Nyack), I was glad to accept their invitation to join the faculty as the NYC campus began to expand. |
What does your faith mean in your classroom or discipline? |
| I cannot imagine teaching, especially in the disciplines of history and theology, outside the realm of an active faith. It is my faith which enables me to make sense of the material of human history and thought. And it is the Christian faith in particular which makes the most consistent and life-giving sense of human existence. |
What does your faith mean in relationships (particularly with students)? |
| Similarly to the above statement, it is the Christian faith which gives true and durable meaning to all human relationships. Without it, my relationships with students (as well as with any others) would be and could be little more than daily exercises in manipulating others for my own benefit. Knowing that God loved me enough to send his Son to die and rise from the dead for me gives me a purpose in life which goes far beyond my immediate interests in personal power or advancement, so that I can seek to benefit others and ultimately contribute to the building of the kingdom of God on earth which will go far beyond my person. |
What are your favorite courses to teach? |
| In reality, all of them. But if I had to single out some for special mention, they would be BIB 301/302 (Bible Doctrines I/II) and courses which allow me to engage in historical theology, such as THE 321 (Reformation Thought), HIS/THE 325 (The Pentecostal Movement), HIS 443 (History of Religion in America), HIS 340 (The American Civil War and Reconstruction),and BIB 371 (The Bible and Modern Science). |
What is/are your favorite book(s)? |
| How long of a list can you handle? In recent years, the books I have enjoyed the most have been those which stretch my mind and help me to understand major ideological developments or events in human history. A few examples might be Charles Darwin's THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES, David Ewing Duncan's THE CALENDAR, Adolf Hitler's MEIN KAMPF, Philip Johnson's DARWIN ON TRIAL, Karl Marx' THE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO, and Charles Wilson's BAPTIZED IN BLOOD. |
Thanks for Coming Home to Nyack!
A big thank you to those who took the time and effort to attend Homecoming 2008—truly a weekend that will long be remembered. And congratulations to the classes of ‘53, ‘58, ‘63, ‘68, ‘73, ‘78, ‘83, ‘88, ‘93, ‘98... 
