James R. Payton Jr.

Payton spent eight years as a pastor before joining the Redeemer community. He taught at Redeemer University College for 30 years, retiring in 2015. His classes built especially on Byzantine History, which lasted for more than 1100 years. Payton believes that this empire needs to be studied by western Christians because of the significant Christian influences which in many ways drove Byzantine history.[1] He taught courses on Eastern Orthodoxy, Eastern European history, and Church history. He has done extensive study on the church fathers and on church history, and he has written numerous articles in all these fields.

Payton has written five books. "Light from the Christian East: An Introduction to the Orthodox Tradition" was published by InterVarsity Press in 2007. This won the Word Guild's First Place awards in the Leadership and the Biblical categories. [3] He followed that up with "Getting the Reformation Wrong: Correcting Some Misunderstandings" in 2010 (also from InterVarsity Press). In 2011 his "Irenaeus on the Christian Faith: A Condensation of 'Against Heresies'" was published by Pickwick Publications. His decades-long studies of the church fathers led to the publication of "A Patristic Treasury: Early Church Wisdom for Today" (Ancient Faith Publications, 2013). This won the Word Guild's First Place award in the Devotional category in 2014.[4][5] His fifth book is "The Victory of the Cross: Salvation in Eastern Orthodoxy" (InterVarsity Press 2019). He is seeking a publisher for his treatment of Eastern European history, "The Unknown Europe: How Eastern Europe Got That Way."

Payton is noted for his work in fostering intellectual dialogue between the Evangelical and Eastern Orthodox Chritians.[3] From 1998 to 2006, Payton served CAREE (Christians Associated for Relationships with Eastern Europe) as executive secretary, and from 2006-2011 as president. CAREE is a UN-endorsed NGO which has worked in Eastern Europe for over 50 years. He has also served on the Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations Committee of the Christian Reformed Church in North America (2004-2010, 2012-2018). He has been the ecumenical member on the Reformed Church in America's Commission on Christian Unity (2013-2020), and served on its Inter-Religious Task Force (2015-2017). He has been a member of the National Muslim-Christian Liaison Committee of Canada since 2006, serving as its Christian co-chair 2008-2011. From 2002-2007 he was a member of the Europe Forum of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA. Since 1999, he has travelled frequently to Eastern Europe to participate in conferences and to teach. In November 2015, he participated in the Global Christian Forum's Consultation, "Discrimination, Persecution, and Martyrdom: Following Christ Together," held in Tirana, Albania.

James R. Payton Jr. received his B.A. (Religion) and M.A. (Theology) from Bob Jones University. At Westminster Theological Seminary he completed a Masters in Theology in Church History, along with his Masters of Divinity. He went on to receive his Ph.D. from the University of Waterloo in the Intellectual History of Early Modern Europe.