Ray Sutton

The Most Reverend

Ray Sutton

D.D., D.Th.
Presiding Bishop of the Reformed Episcopal Church
Bishop Sutton presents an icon to the Anglican Deaconesses Association.
Bishop Sutton presents an icon to the Anglican Deaconesses Association.
ChurchReformed Episcopal Church, Anglican Church in North America
DioceseMid-America
In office2016–present
PredecessorRoyal U. Grote Jr.
Orders
ConsecrationJuly 29, 1999
by Leonard W. Riches
Personal details
Born
Raymond Ronny Sutton

(1950-08-28) August 28, 1950 (age 74)
Louisville, Kentucky
SpouseSusan Jean Schaerdel
Children7
Alma mater
Ordination history of
Ray Sutton
History
Priestly ordination
Ordained byWilliam H.S. Jerdan
DateFebruary 1, 1989
Episcopal consecration
Consecrated byLeonard W. Riches
DateJuly 29, 1999
PlaceShreveport, Louisiana
Episcopal succession
Bishops consecrated by Ray Sutton as principal consecrator
John BoonzaaijerFebruary 15, 2024

Raymond Ronny Sutton (born 1950) is an American Anglican bishop. He was bishop coadjutor in the Diocese of Mid-America of the Reformed Episcopal Church, since 1999, a founding member of the Anglican Church in North America, in 2009. He is the former Rector of the Church of the Holy Communion in Dallas, Texas, president and Professor of Scripture and Theology at Cranmer Theological House in Houston, Texas, and headmaster of Holy Communion Christian Academy (formerly Bent Tree Episcopal School).[1] Sutton was born in Louisville, Kentucky, and moved to Dallas at age thirteen.

He is currently head of the Ecumenical Relations Committee of the Anglican Church of North America.[2][3]

He took over the leadership of the Reformed Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Mid-America on November 24, 2016, upon the death of Royal U. Grote Jr., on a provisional level, with his installation taking place on June 15, 2017.[3][4][5]

Personal life

Sutton is married to Susan Jean Schaerdel of Dallas. They have seven children and four grandchildren.[3]

Education

Career

Church of the Holy Communion in North Dallas, Texas. Seat of Bishop Ray Sutton.

Sutton served in parish ministry from 1976 until 1991. He was a co-pastor with James B. Jordan of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Tyler, Texas, which was a prominent church in the Christian Reconstructionist movement. Other members included Gary North and David Chilton. The church belonged to the Westminster Presbyterian Church of the Association of Reformation Churches in America. North praised Sutton for uncovering that Meredith G. Kline's five-point covenant model applied to the whole Bible, and that it applies to three covenant institutions of family, state and church.[6][7][8]

Sutton served as Dean and Associate Professor of New Testament at the Reformed Episcopal Seminary in Philadelphia from 1991 until 1995; and Dean and Professor of Theology at Cranmer Theological House in Shreveport, Louisiana from 1995 until 2001. Since the Synod of the Reformed Episcopal Diocese of Mid America in February 2013, he is once again the president of Cranmer Theological House based in the Houston area. Cranmer House also supports a satellite campus in Dallas at Sutton's parish, The Church of the Holy Communion (The DMA Pro Cathedral).

Sutton was ordained a bishop coadjutor of the Reformed Episcopal Church in 1999 and arrived at the Church of the Holy Communion in 2001.

Works

Sutton has authored several theology works:

  • The Sacramental Theology of Daniel Waterland (Doctoral Thesis—Coventry University), 1998.
  • Signed, Sealed and Delivered: A Study of Holy Baptism, Classical Anglican Press, Houston, TX (2001). ISBN 1-893293-54-8
  • Captains and Courts, a Biblical Defense of Episcopal Government.
  • Second Chance: Biblical Principals of Divorce and Remarriage, Biblical Hope for the Divorced, Biblical Blueprint Series Vol. #10, The Institute for Christian Economics, (1988).
  • That You May Prosper : Dominion by Covenant, The Institute for Christian Economics, (1987).
  • Who Owns the Family? : God or the State? Biblical Blueprint Series Vol. #03, Dominion Press, Ft. Worth, TX, (1986).
  • Ray Sutton, David Chilton, Gary DeMar, Victoria T. deVries, Michael Gilstrap, Power for Living, Arthur S. DeMoss Foundation, (1983).

Articles

  • Sutton, Ray R. "Covenantal Evil." Covenant Renewal 2 (1988) 4.
  • Sutton, Ray R. "Oath and Symbol." Covenant Renewal 3 (1989) 4: 1–4.
  • Sutton, Ray R. "Clothing and Calling." in The Reconstruction of the Church. Christianity and Civilization Vol 4. ed. James B. Jordan. Tyler, Texas: Geneva Ministries, (1985).
  • Sutton, Ray R. "The Saturday Night Church and the Liturgical Nature of Man." in The Reconstruction of the Church. Christianity and Civilization Vol 4. ed. James B. Jordan. Tyler, Texas: Geneva Ministries, (1985).
  • Ray R. Sutton, "The Church as a Shadow Government," Christianity and Civilization III: Tactics of Christian Resistance, Geneva Divinity School, (1983).
  • Ray Sutton, "The Baptist Failure", Christianity & Civilization, James B. Jordan, ed., Geneva Divinity School, (1982).

Editor

  • What is Anglicanism?, Latimer Press (2004), by Mark F. M. Clavier, co-edited by Ray Sutton and Peter C. Moore.

References

  1. ^ "Bent Tree Episcopal School - Faculty and Staff". Archived from the original on January 18, 2011. Retrieved October 20, 2009.
  2. ^ "All Saints Anglican Church Shreveport Louisiana Traditional". Archived from the original on July 1, 2022. Retrieved October 17, 2022. He is also the Dean of the Province and Ecumenical Affairs of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), ...
  3. ^ a b c "Bishop Ray Sutton Installed As New Presiding Bishop Of The Reformed Episcopal Church". Anglican Church in North America. June 15, 2017. Archived from the original on September 27, 2020. Retrieved October 17, 2022.
  4. ^ "News - Reformed Episcopal Church". www.rechurch.org. Archived from the original on November 26, 2016. Retrieved November 26, 2016.
  5. ^ "DALLAS: Bishop Ray Sutton installed as new Presiding Bishop of the Reformed Episcopal Church, Virtue Online, 15 June 2017". Archived from the original on June 22, 2017. Retrieved August 3, 2017.
  6. ^ "Stones and Cornerstones in Christian Reconstruction" (PDF). Christian Reconstruction. Vol. 12, no. 2. Institute for Christian Economics. 1988. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 19, 2022. Retrieved October 17, 2022.
  7. ^ North, Gary (March 25, 1997). "Chilton, Sutton, and Dominion Theology" (PDF). garynorth.com. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 19, 2022. Retrieved October 17, 2022.
  8. ^ Smith, Ralph (1999). The Covenantal Kingdom: A Brief Summary of the Biblical Argument for Postmillennialism. ISBN 9781930092235. Archived from the original on October 17, 2022. Retrieved January 2, 2021.
Anglican Communion titles
Preceded by II REC Bishop of Mid-America
2016–present 		Incumbent
Presiding Bishop of the Reformed Episcopal Church
2017–present