John Warwick Montgomery (October 18, 1931 – September 25, 2024) was an American-born lawyer, academic, Lutheran theologian, and author. From 2014 to 2017, he was Distinguished Research Professor of Philosophy at Concordia University, Wisconsin. He was Professor-At-Large, 1517: The Legacy Project. He was named (2023), after 20 years in French legal practice. Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary Library Archives He continued to work as a barrister specializing in religious freedom cases in international Human Rights law until his death in 2024.Ten Old Square, London, England, Lincoln's Inn Chambers of Leolin Price CBE QC.
Montgomery was a writer, lecturer, and public debater in the field of Christian apologetics.William Dembski and Thomas Schirrmacher eds. Tough-Minded Christianity: Honoring the Legacy of John Warwick Montgomery, Nashville, Tennessee: B & H Publishing Group, 2008.
From 1995 to 2007 he was a professor in Law and Humanities at the University of Bedfordshire, England; and from 2007 to 2014, the Distinguished Research Professor of Philosophy and Christian Thought at Patrick Henry College in Virginia, United States. He later became emeritus Professor at the University of Bedfordshire. He was also the director of the International Academy of Apologetics, Evangelism & Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, and was the editor of the theological online journal Global Journal of Classical Theology., Global Journal of Classical Theology.
Montgomery was born in Warsaw, New York, United States. He maintained multiple citizenship in the United States, the United Kingdom, and France.
Family Montgomery's family derived from County Antrim in Ireland. His parents were Maurice Warwick Montgomery (owner of a retail feed company) and Harriet (Smith) Montgomery. His one sibling, a sister, died in 2008. He had three children (two daughters and a son) with his first wife, whom he divorced in 1985.Fighting The Good Fight, John Warwick Montgomery, Wipf and Stock, October 27, 2020; pg. 88. ISBN 1725289679 In 1988, he married Lanalee de Kant, a professional harpist, with whom he had an adopted son and two grandchildren;Marquis Who's Who biographies updated 30 May 2011: Who's Who in Finance and Business, 31st Edition; Who's Who in the World, 8th through 27th Editions; Who's Who in American Law, 4th through 14th, 16th Editions; Who's Who in America, 44th through 47th, 51st through 65th Editions. Lexis Nexus access date 06 Aug 2011. she died in March 2021. Montgomery subsequently married Carol Gracina Maughan in February 2022.See Fighting the Good Fight: A Life in Defense of the Faith (4th Ed., Bonn: Culture and Science Publ. (VKW), 2022), pp. 134–37.
Education Montgomery was a scholarly maverickCarla Rivera, "A Flair for Controversy", Los Angeles Times, Jan 11, 1989, California, Local section. Article Available Here to academics/subscribers who earned eleven degrees in multiple disciplines: philosophy, librarianship, theology, and law. His degrees included: the A.B. with distinction in Philosophy (Cornell University; Phi Beta Kappa), B.L.S. and M.A. (University of California, Berkeley), B.D. and S.T.M. (Wittenberg University, Springfield, Ohio), LL.B. (La Salle Extension University), M.Phil. in Law (University of Essex, England), Ph.D. (University of Chicago), Th.D. Doctorat d'Universite (University of Strasbourg), LLM and LLD in canon law (Cardiff University). He also was awarded an honorary doctorate in 1999 by the Institute for Religion and Law, Moscow.IMPACT Dissertations Information Academic Resource Info on Montgomery's Doctoral Dissertation from University of Chicago UNC School of Information and Library Science, and Indiana University School of Library and Information Science.
Career Montgomery became a Christian in 1949 as an undergraduate student majoring in the classics and philosophy at Cornell University.Cornell Daily Sun, vol. 68, Issue 181, 06 June 1952, p. 10, baccalaureate candidate announcements. Upon graduation Montgomery then began studies in librarianship through the University of California, followed by two degrees in theology and ordination as a Lutheran clergyman. His M.A. thesis in library science was published by the University of California as A Seventeenth Century View of European Libraries.Rudolf Hirsch, Review of A Seventeenth-Century View of European Libraries, Library Quarterly 33 (1963): 23-224. In 1959–60 he served on the faculty of theology as principal librarian in the divinity school's library at the University of Chicago, while simultaneously undertaking doctoral studies in bibliographical history.James R. Moore, "John Warwick Montgomery" in Christianity for the Tough-Minded, Montgomery ed. Minneapolis: Bethany, 1974, 291.
He then served as chairman of the Department of History at Wilfrid Laurier University in Canada, where he began to develop a reputation as a Christian apologist. Some of his earliest apologetic lectures in defending the historical reliability of the gospel records were presented at the University of British Columbia and the lectures were subsequently published in his book History and Christianity.See Ross Clifford, Leading Lawyers' Case for the Resurrection, Edmonton: Canadian Institute for Law, Theology & Public Policy, 1996, 30. Craig J. Hazen, "Ever Hearing but Never Understanding": A Response to Mark Hutchins's Critique of John Warwick Montgomery's Historical Apologetics" in Tough-Minded Christianity, Dembski & Schirrmacher eds. 22. Also refer to Montgomery, History and Christianity, Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1979, 5.
On receiving a Canada Council Senior Research Fellowship, Montgomery commenced doctoral studies in theology at the University of Strasbourg, France. His doctoral dissertation, which was on the life and career of the Lutheran pastor Johannes Valentinus Andreae and his alleged connections with Rosicrucianism, was subsequently published as Cross and Crucible. Montgomery regards this particular text as his most important piece of scholarship.Philip Johnson, "To Every Occultist an Answer: Assessing John Warwick Montgomery's Apologetic Critique of the Occult," in Tough-Minded Christianity, Dembski & Schirrmacher eds., 176.
After completing his Th.D in 1964, Montgomery assumed a post as professor of church history at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois (1964–1974). It was during the 1960s that he emerged as a significant spokesman for Protestant Evangelicals, writing as a regular columnist in the flagship periodical Christianity Today (1965–1983).Montgomery's Christianity Today Articles are referenced in Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature, Vol. 28, p. 766; Vol. 29, p. 782; Vol. 31, p. 752; Vol. 32, p. 768; Vol. 33, p. 700; Vol. 34, p. 713; Vol. 35 p. 710; Vol. 36 p. 718; Vol. 37, p. 732; Vol. 38, p. 883; Vol. 38, p. 897; Vol. 40, p. 986; Vol. 41, p. 1057; Vol. 42, p.1017, H. W. Wilson Co., New York, 1968–83.
He injected himself into the theological controversies of his denomination, the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod, concerning Biblical inerrancy and higher criticism. On the wider church scene he wrote against the Death of God theology, and publicly debated one of its proponents, Thomas J. J. Altizer, at the University of Chicago in 1967. He was also critical of Karl Barth, Paul Tillich, and Rudolf Bultmann. He summed up much of his opposition to Liberal Christianity and radical theologies in works such as Crisis in Lutheran Theology, The Suicide of Christian Theology, and God's Inerrant Word.L. Russ Bush, "Preventing Theological Suicide: John Warwick Montgomery's Quest in the 1970s," in Tough-Minded Christianity, Dembski & Schirrmacher eds., 113–124. David R. Liefeld, "Lutheran Orthodoxy and Evangelical Ecumenicity in the Writings of John Warwick Montgomery," Westminster Theological Journal 50 (1988): 110–111. Kurt E. Marquart, Anatomy of An Explosion: A Theological Analysis of the Missouri Synod Conflict, Grand Rapids: Baker, 1978, 117.
His role as an apologist for the Christian faith extended to debates with the American atheist Madalyn Murray O'Hair (1967),Dr. John Warwick Montgomery debated Madalyn Murray O'Hair on live Chicago radio broadcast, 1967. https://www.overdrive.com/media/3059926/the-great-chicago-air-show situation ethicist Joseph Fletcher (1971),Dr. John Warwick Montgomery debated Joseph Fletcher, at San Diego State University, February 11, 1971. Australian atheist Mark Plummer (1986),Dr. John Warwick Montgomery debated Mark Plummer, in Sydney, Australia, February 14, 1986. humanist George A. Wells (1993),Dr. John Warwick Montgomery debated Dr. George A. Wells, in London, England, February 10, 1993. and Jesus Seminar scholar Gerd Ludemann.Primary source recordings of, and information about the actual Montgomery debates Canadian Institute for Law, Theology and Public Policy These debates are discussed in Dallas K. Miller, "The Role of Public Debate in Apologetics" in Tough-Minded Christianity, Dembski & Schirrmacher eds., 452–477.
From 1965 until his death, Montgomery was an ordained minister in the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod.LCMS Church worker locator
During the 1970s, Montgomery began training in the law with the twin aims of reintegrating Christian foundations into jurisprudence, and to integrate insights from legal theory and doctrines of proof relevant to furthering Christian evidentialist apologetics. To that end Montgomery established, in 1980, the Simon Greenleaf School of Law in California, which is now Trinity Law School, the law school of Trinity International University.Trinity Law School History https://tls.edu/history/ Montgomery worked as dean and professor from 1980 to 1989. Montgomery was editor of The Simon Greenleaf Law Review, which was published in seven volumes between 1981 and 1987.Library of Congress link Montgomery resigned his post as dean and professor in 1989, under mediated resolution.Fighting The Good Fight, John Warwick Montgomery, Wipf and Stock, October 27, 2020; pg. 79. ISBN 1725289679 The same year, Montgomery and Michael Richard Smythe founded the Irvine, California-based Institute for Theology and Law which, in 1995, became the current International Academy of Apologetics and Human Rights in Strasbourg, France. In 1991, Montgomery relocated to London, where he became a Barrister-at-Law,Montgomery's Current Barrister Profile at Ten Old Square, Lincoln's Inn Chambers of Leolin Price CBE QC wrote widely on apologetics, defended international cases of religious freedom, and taught at the University of Bedfordshire.Lynne Williams, Appointments of Chairs, Times Higher Education, 16 June 1995, UK Montgomery's Chair Appointment to University of Bedfordshire In 2009, Montgomery passed the French bar examinations and became an ; he was a member of the Paris law firm of Noual Hadjaje Duval.Profile listing for Paris law firm of Noual Hadjaje Duval
Montgomery's apologetic work generally centered on establishing the divinity of Christ by assessing the historical and legal evidences for the resurrection.Ross Clifford, John Warwick Montgomery's Legal Apologetic: An Apologetic for all Seasons, Bonn: Verlag fur Kultur und Wissenschaft, 2004, 40–46. Kenneth D. Boa & Robert M. Bowman, Faith Has Its Reasons: An Integrative Approach to Defending Christianity, Colorado Springs: NAV Press, 2001, 167–169. Much of this work has influenced popular apologists such as Josh McDowell, Don Stewart, Francis J. Beckwith, Ross Clifford, Terry Miethe, Gary Habermas, Craig Parton, Rod Rosenbladt, Loren Wilkinson, Kerry McRoberts, and Elliot Miller. He was an advocate of evidentialist apologetics, offering a distinctly Christian philosophy of history in his books The Shape of the Past and Where Is History Going?Gary Habermas,"Evidential Apologetic Methodology: The Montgomery-Bahnsen Debate", p. 426ff, in Dembski & Schirrmacher eds. Tough-Minded Christianity, 426ff. Boa & Bowman, Faith Has Its Reasons, 194–196.