October 31, 2006

John W. Webster, Ph.D., has accepted the position of dean for the La Sierra University School of Religion beginning fall quarter 2006. The School of Religion has 11 faculty and about 125 students.

"While I always hate to take a gifted professor and scholar out of the classroom and study to serve in administration, even they sometimes have to take their turn at the more mundane!” says Lawrence T. Geraty, Ph.D., president of La Sierra University. “The Adventist Church needs John Webster as a theologian and philosopher for the long haul, but right now the School of Religion needs him because of his experience and gifts in administration as well.  We are fortunate that he has been willing, reluctantly, to make the sacrifice.  He's already doing a terrific job!"

“I’m humbled and honored to be able to work together with such a wonderful faculty on furthering the School’s ongoing task of ‘faith seeking understanding,’” says Webster of his new position. “I will continue with some of my teaching load, as my first love has always been and remains the thrill of working with eager students.”

Since 1999 Webster has served as a professor of systematic theology and history of Christianity at La Sierra University. During this time he was most recently chair of the faculty senate and currently was elected to a three-year presidential cycle with the Adventist Society of Religious Scholars.

“We are in the business of preparing students for pastoral ministry, for further graduate academic studies; and vocations in what we call ‘public theology’ (where they bring their study of religion to bear on another chosen career such as medicine, education, and law),” says Webster. “As such, we seek to serve the church, the academic pursuit of knowledge, and our wider society. My goal is to work toward building our capacity for excellence in each of these three areas.”

“Dr. John Webster brings many important strengths to his new position as Dean of the School of Religion at La Sierra University,” says Warren Trenchard, Ph.D., provost for La Sierra University. “Among these are his stellar academic credentials, his celebrated leadership among the faculty of the University, his experience as the head of a department of religious studies, his involvement in Church and government relations, his international and multi-cultural orientation, his commitment to student learning, and his contextual creativity as a theologian and philosopher.”

Webster earned his B.A. from the University of South Africa, a B.Th. Honours, University of South Africa, an M.A. in Religion from Andrews University and a Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary.

He has served as chairman of the Theology Department at Helderberg College, co-founder and co-editor of Koinonia: The Princeton Theological Seminary Graduate Forum, and a pastor in Durban, South Africa. Webster has published many papers and given numerous presentations, he is a member of Phi Kappa Phi, the South Africa Academy of Religion, and the American Academy of Religion to name a few.

In his free time Webster serves as an elder at the La Sierra University Church, he enjoys world travel, camping, and amateur radio, which he has been licensed at since the age of 16. He and wife Cheryl have four children and one grandchild. One child is an LSU student, another a teacher, a medical student and an environmentalist.