William H. Brackney, 1948 - 2022

On Tuesday I received an announcement from the American Baptist Historical Society about the death of William Henry “Bill” Brackney. He died in November, but prior to this e-mail I had seen no death announcement.

The ABHS e-mail mentions:

As the first person to hold the title of “Executive Director” of the American Baptist Historical Society, Rev. Dr. William H. Brackney left his indelible mark on the Society. (Earlier administrators bore the title of “Curator.”) During his tenure as Executive Director, ABHS became the permanent custodian of the records of the national boards of American Baptist Churches, USA, the Philadelphia Baptist Association, and the Freewill Baptist movement in North America. We can credit Bill Brackney with initiating the Archives Center at the ABCUSA headquarters at Valley Forge, PA. With the addition of ongoing exhibits at Green Lake, WI, ABHS expanded to three sites.

and

Bill’s numerable publications, projects that he spearheaded, and research were unmatched among Baptist historians.  His knowledge of Baptist history and the historians who study it was immense! Bill was very involved in the 2018 Rauschenbusch Conference that ABHS co-hosted with Mercer University and the Acadia Centre for Baptist and Anabaptist Studies. This jointly-sponsored conference was an example of collaborative work that Bill liked to organize.

William H. Brackney was the son of Samuel Harp Brackney, Jr. and Mildred Pointer. His brother, Kennard Samuel Brackney, was also a minister. William H. Brackney served as a pastor of both Baptist and United Methodist Churches, and was the author of over 40 books. He was also a long-time educator.

William Brackney’s academic career includes:

• Assistant Professor at Houghton College in Houghton, NY, USA
• Associate Professor of Church History at Colgate Rochester Divinity School in Rochester, NY, USA
• Vice President, Dean, and Professor of History of Christianity at Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, PA, USA
• Principal and Dean of Theology at McMaster Divinity College, McMaster University, in Hamilton, ON, Canada (1989-2000)
• Chair of the Department of Religion and Professor of Religion at Baylor University in Waco, TX, USA (2000-2006)
• Distinguished Professor and Chair in Christian Theology and Ethics at Acadia Divinity College, Acadia University, in Wolfville, NS, Canada (2006-2017)
• MacDonald Professor of Baptist Theology and Ethics at Carey Theological College, University of British Columbia, in Vancouver, BC, Canada (2017-2019)

His writings include:

• (1982) A Traveler’s Guide to American Baptist Historical Sites
• (1994) The Baptists
• (1998) Baptist Life and Thought: a Source Book
• (2006) Baptists in North America: an Historical Perspective
• (2008) Congregation and Campus: Baptists in Higher Education
• (2009) Historical Dictionary of the Baptists
• (2009) The A to Z of the Baptists
• (2012) Historical Dictionary of Radical Christianity

Brackney obtained his higher education at the University of Maryland, College Park (BA), the Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Philadelphia (MA), and the Temple University in Philadelphia (MA, PhD).

In 1986, William Bill Brackney was born January 13, 1948 in Washington, District of Columbia. He died on November 13, 2022 in Kentville, Nova Scotia, Canada.