Nathan D. Baxter

The Right Reverend

Nathan Dwight Baxter

AHC, D.Min., D.H.L., D.D., S.T.D.
Bishop of Central Pennsylvania
Baxter in October 2009
ChurchEpiscopal Church
DioceseCentral Pennsylvania
ElectedJuly 22, 2006
In office2006–2014
PredecessorMichael W. Creighton
SuccessorAudrey Scanlan
Orders
OrdinationDecember 16, 1977
by Dean T. Stevenson
ConsecrationOctober 22, 2006
by Frank Griswold
Personal details
Born (1948-11-16) November 16, 1948 (age 76)
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, United States
NationalityAmerican
DenominationAnglican
ParentsElder Belgium Nathan Baxter & Augusta Ruth Byrd
SpouseMary Ellen Walker
Children2

Nathan Dwight Baxter AHC (born November 16, 1948[1]) is the 10th bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Central Pennsylvania and the 1,010 in succession in the Episcopal Church. He was elected as bishop coadjutor on July 22, 2006, and consecrated on October 22, 2006. Baxter's friend Archbishop Desmond Tutu preached the sermon.

Early life

Baxter, a Harrisburg native, was the oldest of three sons, Charles Wayne and Larry of Elder Belgium N. Baxter and Augusta Baxter. He is married to Mary Ellen Baxter (Walker), an educator with degrees from Hampton University and Harvard University. They have two children, two foster children, and nine grandchildren.[2]

Education

He graduated from Lancaster Theological Seminary in 1976 with honors and prizes in homiletics and Christology and earned a Doctor of Ministry there in 1985.[3] Baxter has also completed programs at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California, the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and the Warren Deem Management Institute at the Columbia University Executive Center. Baxter has received numerous other honors from colleges, universities and seminaries including being named an honorary alumnus at the Episcopal Divinity School 1991, and receiving eight honorary doctorates Dickinson College, Messiah College, Colgate University, St. Paul's College, York College, Elizabethtown College, Ohio Dominican University, Lincoln University[4] and the Presidential Medal from Millersville University.

Career

Directly before being elected bishop, Baxter spent two-and-a-half years serving as the rector of St. James Episcopal Church in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. A third-generation priest, he was dean of Washington National Cathedral from 1991 to 2003 and served as Chief Administrative Officer of the Protestant Episcopal Cathedral Foundation. California Rep. Barbara Lee credits Baxter's sermon at the September 14, 2001 memorial following the September 11 attacks, during which he warned Americans not to "become the evil we deplore," with cementing her decision to vote no on the Authorization for Use of Military Force of 2001 (Lee was the only member of Congress to vote no).[5] Before becoming dean of the cathedral, Baxter served as the administrative dean and associate professor of pastoral theology at Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, seminary dean and associate professor of church and ministry at Lancaster Theological Seminary in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and chaplain and professor of religious studies at St. Paul's College in Lawrenceville, Virginia. Baxter has also served at other parishes in Pennsylvania and Virginia.[6]

Baxter is an associate of the Order of the Holy Cross, chaplain of the Most Venerable Order of St. John of Jerusalem. Other memberships include Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity, the Cosmos Club of Washington, and a life member of the Union of Black Episcopalians and the NAACP. Drafted in 1968, he is also a decorated U.S. Army veteran of the Vietnam War, having received the Vietnam Cross of Gallantry with Palm and the Combat Medical Badge.[7]

He was selected to deliver the prayer for the nation at the White House Millennium Celebration, which was televised internationally.[8] He was acknowledged by Nancy Reagan for his leadership in planning the funeral of President Ronald Reagan.[citation needed]

Retirement

Baxter retired in May 2014 after serving as Bishop of the Diocese of Central Pennsylvania for eight years. Following Baxter's retirement the Rt. Rev. Robert Gepert was named as provisional bishop of the diocese. On March 14, 2015, the Rev. Canon Audrey Scanlan was elected to become the next bishop of the diocese.[9]

References

  1. ^ Episcopal Clerical Directory 2013 (2013). New York: Church Publishing Inc. ISBN 978-0-89869-888-6, p. 73.
  2. ^ "The Rt. Rev. Nathan Baxter". day1.org. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
  3. ^ "The Right Reverend Nathan Dwight Baxter", Lancaster Seminary. Retrieved on 17 May 2020.
  4. ^ "Bishop Baxter receives honorary degree from Lincoln University". Episcopal News Service. New York, NY: The Episcopal Church. June 20, 2008. Retrieved September 27, 2016.
  5. ^ Gillian Brockell (2021-08-17). "She was the only member of Congress to vote against war in Afghanistan. Some called her a traitor". The Washington Post. Washington, D.C. ISSN 0190-8286. OCLC 1330888409.
  6. ^ Smith, Jessie Carney (2012). Black Firsts: 4,000 Ground-Breaking and Pioneering Historical Events, p. 582. Visible Ink Press, Detroit, MI. ISBN 1578594243.
  7. ^ "Biography Page for Nathan Baxter". Highmark Blue Shield Living Legacy. Archived from the original on 13 September 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  8. ^ "Nathan Baxter, Dean of Washington National Cathedral, To Speak at Amherst College Feb. 2". www.amherst.edu. January 14, 2003.
  9. ^ "Central Pennsylvania diocese elects Audrey Cady Scanlan as bishop", Episcopal News Service, The Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society, 2014-03-15, retrieved 2014-03-15
Episcopal Church (USA) titles
Preceded by Dean of Washington National Cathedral
1992–2003 		Succeeded by