Jerry was one of the two founding scholars behind the Museum of the Bible (DC), where he served as Exec. Dir. of Education until "retiring" in Dec. 2018, but returned in spring of 2020 as Senior Advisor to the President. On Feb.14, 2020, he also spoke at the United Nations on "How to Protect Religious Spaces." He served as interim president of the Religious News Service (and CEO) in 2019/2020, and in 2022 spoke on Capitol Hill on his book, "Public Intellectuals and the Common Good." He is a pioneer in Purpose-Guided Education and has made various contributions to history or biblical resources, including co-authoring the 2020 TV documentary series, "Inexplicable: How Christianity Spread to the Ends of the Earth" (winner of three Telly Awards), and a book by the same title.
At 16 he was both a high school graduate and homeless. PBS featured him in its documentary, Leading the Way Out of Poverty (filmed via WIPB TV, 2006). He currently serves as the first University Professor in the history of Indiana Wesleyan University (IWU, f. 1920, 12,000 students), after serving many years in upper administration, and teaching at Azusa Pacific University where he won to Outstanding Faculty of the Year Awards. He holds distinguished appointments at Tyndale House--Cambridge, Lumen Research Institute (IWU and Excelsia College, OZ), Waverley Abbey (UK), and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He received a National Endowment of Humanities Award for archaeology in Isthmia, Greece, and was co-director/founder of Odyssey in Egypt program around their excavation in Wadi Natrun, Egypt.
Jerry was the executive director of The National Conversations series, a joint effort between IWU and Sagamore to convene events that generate productive conversations on the most controversial issues of our day. Additionally, Dr. Pattengale serves on the boards of Christianity Today (CT), Africa New Life (Rwanda), the Jonathan Edwards’ Center (Yale), Changing Destiny (Asia), and Christian Scholar's Review (assoc. publisher). His 20-year news column at the Chronicle Tribune has garnered awards from the AP and the Hoosier State Press Association and will be highlighted at www.Lifestreamsnetworks.com. His author page at Religion News Service (RNS) affords a glimpse of his topical interests, and his long first-hand account of the antiquities scandal in CT likely gives the best peek into his professional world: "The 'First-Century' Saga from Inside the Room" (June 28, 2019).
A prolific writer, in addition to national pieces in WSJ, RNS, Inside Higher Ed, Christianity Today, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, etc.,
Dr. Pattengale has authored or edited dozens of books and educational volumes. He recently served as editor-in-chief for over 20 volumes of high-tech, in-depth curriculum, The Bible in Augmented Reality (BAR, or TMR in Hebrew, 2016), The Book: The Narrative, History and Impact of the Bible (2017), The Bible and Its Impact on Western Culture (Compedia and MOTB, 2020). Other recent books include The New Book of Christian Martyrs (Tyndale House, co-authored with Johnnie Moore, 2023), Mentoring Matters (2022, co-editor, with IVP), The Bible in the U.S. Capital (Tyndale House and Museum of the Bible, 2022), The Anxious Middle: The Future of the Christian College (with Todd C. Ream, Baylor Press, 2023), Is the Bible at Fault? How the Bible Has Been Misused for Evil, Suffering, and Bizarre Behavior (Hachette/Worthy, 2018), Faith Made Real (2017, with Steve DeNeff and Emily Vermilya, Wesleyan Publishing House), Color and Praise (2021, Harper Design), The World's Greatest Book (2nd Ed., 2023, Tyndale House), and forthcoming, The Women in Jesus' Life (co-author with Jackelyn Vera Iloff). He also has significant contributions in Anchor Bible Dictionary (Anchor, 1992), Dictionary of Daily Life in Biblical and Post-Biblical Antiquity (Hendrickson’s, 2017), Integrative Pedagogy: Teaching the Whole Student with Heart, Mind, and Spirit (Stylus, 2018), Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Practice (Springer, 2018), etc. He resides in Marion, IN, site of the main campus for Indiana Wesleyan University, one of the five largest Christian colleges in the U.S. Early in his career he founded the JC BodyShop at the campus church, now a thriving youth program and State-of-the-Art major facility. He also helped found The Night of Champions at APU with founder Terry Franson, which grew to 6,000 student participants annually (and self-sustaining).
He has appeared on various TV and radio shows, from Janet Parshall, History Channel, and TBN to Glenn Beck, CBN, and Eric Metaxas. He appears in episodes 1, 2, and 4 of Inexplicable, at www.thestateoffaith.com. His mantra from his McGraw-Hill books on purpose: "The dream needs to be stronger than the struggle."
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