James R. Payton

James R. Payton, Jr., is Professor of Patristics and Historical Theology and Co-Director of the Centre for Patristics and Early Christianity at McMaster Divinity College (Hamilton, Ontario). He is also Emeritus Professor of History, Redeemer University (Ancaster, Ontario), where for 30 years he taught Western Civilization, Late Middle Ages, Early Modern Europe, Eastern European History, Church History, and Eastern Orthodoxy. Before that, he served 8 years as a pastor. He has been involved in numerous ecumenical and interfaith committees and engagements, and he served as executive secretary (1998-2006) and as president (2006-2011) of CAREE (Christians Associated for Relationships with Eastern Europe), a UN-endorsed NGO that worked for peace, justice, and reconciliation in and for the region for more than 40 years. Jim has traveled frequently to countries in Eastern Europe to offer lectures and classes and to participate in various ecumenical/interfaith and academic conferences. Jim has devoted much of his scholarly career to the study of the Church Fathers ("Patristics") and (Eastern) Orthodoxy--fields not well enough known and appreciated in the Protestant church world.