JFI Director | Jim Forest Institute

Director

Andrew Phillip Klager, PhD

DIRECTOR of THE JIM FOREST INSTITUTE FOR RELIGION, PEACE & JUSTICE

PROVOST & VICE-CHANCELLOR of ST. STEPHEN'S UNIVERSITY

PROFESSOR of RELIGION AND PEACE STUDIES

Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship, CSRS, University of Victoria (2014)
PhD, Religious Studies and History, University of Glasgow (2011)
MA, Christian Studies (History), McMaster Divinity College (2006)
BA, Biblical Studies, Columbia Bible College (2003)

Dr. Andrew Phillip Klager is the founding Director of the Jim Forest Institute for Religion, Peace & Justice (JFI), as well as the Provost & Vice-Chancellor of St. Stephen's University (ssu.ca) and Professor of Religion and Peace Studies.

He has a PhD in Theology & Religious Studies from the University of Glasgow, where he studied the use of the Church Fathers by early leaders of the 16th-c. Anabaptist movement for their embrace of nonviolence and peacemaking. Previous to this, he earned a Master of Arts in Christian Studies from McMaster Divinity College, with a research focus on St. Gregory of Nyssa’s understanding of apophatic theology and the creeds. He also completed continuing studies in Interfaith Conflict Resolution and Conflict Analysis from USIP, was a Research Associate at the Humanitas Anabaptist-Mennonite Centre at Trinity Western University, and was a Visiting Research Fellow at the Centre for Studies in Religion and Society at the University of Victoria.

Aside from numerous book chapters, Andrew’s peer reviewed academic publications have appeared in Salt: An Orthodox Journal of Cross-Cultural Theology, Dialogue and Mission; Peace Research: The Canadian Journal of Peace and Conflict Studies; Journal of Ecumenical Studies; Greek Orthodox Theological Review; Mennonite Quarterly Review; Reformation and Renaissance Review; Journal of Mennonite Studies; Conrad Grebel Review; and Direction Journal. Andrew has also written for Egypt Independent (Al-Masry Al-Youm) and writes for the Huffington Post and Clarion Journal of Religion, Peace & Justice, of which he's also a co-editor. He is also an Associate Editor of The Kenarchy Journal and the Lead Editor of In Communion. Andrew also edited the book, From Suffering to Solidarity: The Historical Seeds of Mennonite Interreligious, Interethnic, and International Peacebuilding (Wipf & Stock, 2015), with his next book, Wild with Divinity: Becoming Human in a World of Violence and Division, due out in 2029.

Andrew’s research interests are in peace theology, the inner transformation of a peacemaker and becoming human, interreligious peacebuilding, conflict transformation and peacebuilding, Eastern Orthodox theology and spirituality, theological anthropology, Christology, patristics, St. Gregory of Nyssa, History of Christianity, and Anabaptist-Mennonite history and theology. He also has a deep appreciation for the way art, poetry, myth, and symbolism intersect with theology and contemplative peacemaking.

Andrew is also the Director of the Orthodox Peace Fellowship (OPF | incommunion.org), which is housed under the auspices of JFI. The OPF is a community of peacemakers in the Orthodox tradition — founded in 1968 during the Vietnam War by the poet, artist, and playwright, Mariquita Platov, as a small gathering in West Nyack, NY, and relaunched in the late 1980s under the leadership of Jim Forest — the purpose of which was and is to bring an Orthodox presence into the peace world and a peace presence into the Orthodox world.

Andrew lives with his wife and their four children in their hundred-year-old craftsman-style heritage home in the small rural village of Yarrow, British Columbia, Canada (about an hour outside of Vancouver), where he spends his time reading, writing, and watching baseball, including his beloved (and infuriating) Red Sox.

BOOKS:

Wild with Divinity: Desire, Freedom, and Becoming Human in a World of Division and Violence. 2029 (forthcoming).

The Cross and the Plough: St. Irenaeus of Lyons and Nonviolent Atonement (tentative title). Abbotsford, BC: St. Macrina Press, 2027 (forthcoming).

From Suffering to Solidarity: The Historical Seeds of Mennonite Interreligious, Interethnic, and International Peacebuilding. ed., Andrew P. Klager. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock [Pickwick Imprint], 2015.

CHAPTERS IN BOOKS:

“'Dipping Cupped Hands in Ancient Wells': What We Can Learn from Erasmus of Rotterdam.” In The Scholar Gipsy: Thrownness, Memoricide and the Great Tradition. eds. Matthew Steem, Wayne Northey, and Bradley Jersak, 50–60. Abbotsford, BC: St. Macrina Press, 2023.

“Understanding Biblical Violence: An ‘Oikonomic’ Approach.” In Clarion Call to Love: Essays in Gratitude to Archbishop Lazar Puhalo. ed. authors of Clarion Journal of Spirituality and Justice, 68–80. Abbotsford, BC: St. Macrina Press, 2018.

“The Church Fathers and Apokatastasis: Mt. Tabor, Gethsemane, and the Final Restoration of Humanity as a Theodrama of Peace.” In Hellrazed? ed. Kevin Miller, 135–164. Kimberly, BC: Kevin Miller XI Productions, Inc., 2017.

“Authentic Grassroots Conflict Transformation in Egypt: Interreligious Hospitality and the Gift of Pessimism in Mennonite Approaches to Peacebuilding.” In From Suffering to Solidarity: The Historical Seeds of Mennonite Interreligious, Interethnic, and International Peacebuilding. ed. Andrew P. Klager, 231–250. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock [Pickwick Imprint], 2015.

“Abandoning Apocalyptic Determinism in Favour of Compassion for Palestinians.” In Canadian Christian Zionism, Canadian Foreign Policy and the Palestinians: A Tangled Tale, Ron Dart, 81–92. Dewdney, BC: Synaxis Press, 2015.

“Orthodox Eschatology and St. Gregory of Nyssa's De vita Moysis: Transfiguration, Cosmic Unity, and Compassion.” In Compassionate Eschatology: The Future as Friend, eds. Ted Grimsrud and Michael Hardin, 230–252. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2011.

“Retaining and Reclaiming the Divine: Identification and the Recapitulation of Peace in St. Irenaeus of Lyons' Atonement Narrative.” In Stricken by God? Nonviolent Identification and the Victory of Christ, eds. Brad Jersak and Michael Hardin, 422–480. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2007.

PEER-REVIEWED JOURNAL ARTICLES:

"Through Whom God Walks Burning: The Suffering Light of Cruciform Nonviolence in a World Darkened by War." Salt: An Orthodox Journal of Cross-Cultural Theology, Dialogue and Mission 3 (2026).

“The Early Influence of Humanism on Balthasar Hubmaier (1485–1528) During His University Studies.” Reformation and Renaissance Review, 22, no. 1 (2020), 4–24.

“From Victimization to Empathetic Solidarity: The Historical Seeds of Interreligious Peacebuilding and Human Rights Advocacy in Anabaptist-Mennonite Origins.” Journal of Mennonite Studies 32 (Summer 2014): 119–132.

“Mennonite Religious Values as a Resource for Peacebuilding between Orthodox Christians and Muslims.” Peace Research: The Canadian Journal of Peace and Conflict Studies 43, no. 2 (2011): 127–155. Published summer 2013.

“Ingestion and Gestation: Peacemaking, the Lord's Supper, and the Theotokos in the Anabaptist-Mennonite and Eastern Orthodox Traditions.” Journal of Ecumenical Studies 47, no. 3 (Summer 2012): 436–456.

“Free Will and Vicinal Culpability in St. Gregory of Nyssa's De vita Moysis.” Greek Orthodox Theological Review 55, no. 1–4 (2010): 149–179.

“Balthasar Hubmaier's Use of the Church Fathers: Availability, Access, and Interaction.” Mennonite Quarterly Review 84, no. 1 (January 2010): 5–65.

“St. Gregory of Nyssa, Anabaptism, and the Creeds.” Conrad Grebel Review 26, no. 3 (Fall 2008): 42–71.

“Balthasar Hubmaier and the Authority of the Church Fathers.” Historical Papers 2008: Canadian Society of Church History: Annual Conference, University of British Columbia, 1–3 June 2008 18 (2008), 133–152.

“Passive Sacramentalism and Ontological Soteriology in Hans Denck and Gregory of Nyssa.” Direction Journal 35, no. 2 (Fall 2006): 268–278. http://www.directionjournal.org/article/?1448

NON-PEER-REVIEWED ARTICLES, POSTS, & OPINION PIECES:

Fourteen posts for the Huffington Post: www.huffpost.com/author/apklager-728

Twenty-five articles and reflections for Clarion: Journal of Spirituality and Justice: www.clarion-journal.com/clarion_journal_of_spirit/author-andrew-klager/

Ten posts for the IRPJ Blog: www.irpj.org/blog-1/author/Andrew-Klager

Review Article: “DOCUMENTARY: J.E.S.U.S.A. reviewed by Andrew Klager.” Orthodoxy in Dialogue (22 April 2020): https://orthodoxyindialogue.com/2020/04/22/

documentary-j-e-s-u-s-a-reviewed-by-andrew-klager/

“Is Nonviolence Naïve? …and other questions about Jesus’ most controversial teachings.” Sojourners Magazine (July 2018): https://sojo.net/magazine/july-2018/nonviolence-naive-questions-Christian

“What Should Christians Do About the Violence in Northern Iraq?” MennoNerds (13 August 2014): http://mennonerds.com/what-should-christians-do-about-the-violence-in-northern-iraq-andrew-p-klager/

“Peacemaking in the Anabaptist-Mennonite and Eastern Orthodox Traditions.” Roots and Branches: Newsletter of the Mennonite Historical Society of British Columbia 20, no. 3 (August 2014): 5–6.

“New Political Climate Could Provide Hope for Copts.” Al-Masry al-Youm – Egypt Independent (12 July 2012 – print edition; July 15 2012 – online edition): http://www.egyptindependent.com/opinion/new-political-climate-could-provide-hope-copts

Interviewed: “Anabaptism and Eastern Orthodox: Common Ground?” Roots and Branches: Newsletter of the Mennonite Historical Society of British Columbia 15, no. 2 (April 2009): 14–15.

ENCYCLOPEDIA ARTICLES:

“National Service Board for Religious Objectors.” In Opposition to War: An Encyclopedia of United States Peace and Antiwar Movement, ed. Mitchell K. Hall, 475–477. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2018.

“Peace History Society.” In Opposition to War: An Encyclopedia of United States Peace and Antiwar Movement, ed. Mitchell K. Hall, 530–532. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2018.

One-hundred-and-four articles outlining the histories of the congregations of Mennonite Church British Columbia and British Columbia Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopaedia Online. http://www.gameo.org.

BOOK REVIEWS:

Book Review: Leu, Urs B. and Sandra Weidmann. Huldrych Zwingli’s Private Library, Studies in Medieval and Reformation Traditions. Leiden: Brill, 2019. Journal of Theological Studies 74, no. 1 (April 2023) (forthcoming).

Book Review: Haberkern, Phillip N. Patron Saint and Prophet: Jan Hus in the Bohemian and German Reformations, Oxford Studies in Historical Theology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016. Journal of Theological Studies 74, no. 1 (April 2023) (forthcoming).

Book Review: Wengert, Timothy J. The Annotated Luther, Volume 1: The Roots of Reform. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2015. Journal of Theological Studies 68, no. 1 (January 2017): 405–406.

Book Review: Stjerna, Kirsi I. The Annotated Luther, Volume 2: Word and Faith. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2015. Journal of Theological Studies 68, no. 1 (January 2017): 406–407.

Book Review: Loewen, Harry. Luther and His Opponents: Ink Against the Devil. Waterloo, ON: Wilfred Laurier Press, 2015. Conrad Grebel Review 34, no. 2 (Spring 2016): 202–204.

Book Review: Campbell, Lara, Michael Dawson, and Catherine Gidney, eds. Worth Fighting For: Canada’s Tradition of War Resistance from 1812 to the War on Terror. Toronto: Between the Lines, 2015. Mennonite Historian 41, no. 3 (September 2015): 11.

Book Review: “Loving Our Enemies: Reflections on the Hardest Commandment — Jim Forest's Much Needed Meditation on a Shamefully Neglected Teaching.” Forest, Jim. Loving Our Enemies: Reflections on the Hardest Commandment. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Press, 2014. Huffington Post (25 March 2015): http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ andrew-p-klager-phd/loving-our-enemies-reflec_b_6934426.html

Book Review: Chatfield, Graeme R. Balthasar Hubmaier and the Clarity of Scripture: A Critical Reformation Issue. Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2013. Journal of Theological Studies 66, no. 1 (April 2015): 487–491.

Book Review: “A Farewell to Mars: Brian Zahnd's Timely Send-Off to the God of War in an Age of Religious Violence.” Zahnd, Brian. A Farewell to Mars: An Evangelical Pastor's Journey Toward the Biblical Gospel of Peace. New York: David C. Cook, 2014. Huffington Post (8 July 2014): http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrew-p-klager-phd/a-farewell-to-mars-brian-_b_5556257.html

Book Review: Stutzman, Ervin R. From Nonresistance to Justice: The Transformation of Mennonite Church Peace Rhetoric, 1908–2008. Studies in Anabaptist and Mennonite History, Vol. 46. Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 2011. Journal of Religion, Conflict, and Peace 4, no. 2 (Spring 2011).

Book Review: Pipkin, Wayne Walker H. Scholar, Pastor, Martyr: The Life and Ministry of Balthasar Hubmaier (ca. 1480–1528). Praha, CZ: International Baptist Theological Seminary, 2008. Mennonite Quarterly Review 85, no. 3 (July 2011): 532–535.

Book Review: Dipple, Geoffrey. ‘Just as in the Time of the Apostles’: Uses of History in the Radical Reformation. Kitchener, ON: Pandora Press, 2005. Reformation & Renaissance Review 8, no. 3 (2006): 376–377. published winter 2008.

peace theology, the inner transformation of a peacemaker and becoming human, interreligious peacebuilding, conflict transformation and peacebuilding, Eastern Orthodox theology and spirituality, theological anthropology, Christology, patristics, St. Gregory of Nyssa, History of Christianity, Anabaptist-Mennonite history and theology, and the intersection of art, poetry, myth, and symbolism with theology and contemplative peacemaking.