Everett Ferguson currently serves as Distinguished Scholar in Residence at Abilene Christian University

Abilene Christian University

Abilene Christian University is a private university located in Abilene, Texas, affiliated with Churches of Christ. ACU was founded in 1906, as Childers Classical Institute...

 in Abilene, Texas

Abilene, Texas

Abilene is a city in Taylor and Jones counties in west central Texas. The population was 117,063 at the 2010 census. It is the principal city of the Abilene Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had a 2006 estimated population of 158,063. It is the county seat of Taylor County...

. He is author of numerous books on early Christian

Early Christianity

Early Christianity is generally considered as Christianity before 325. The New Testament's Book of Acts and Epistle to the Galatians records that the first Christian community was centered in Jerusalem and its leaders included James, Peter and John....

 studies and served as co-editor of the Journal of Early Christian Studies

Journal of Early Christian Studies

The Journal of Early Christian Studies is an academic journal founded in 1993 and is the official publication of the North American Patristics Society. It is devoted to the study of patristics, that is Christianity in the ancient period of roughly C.E. 100-700. The current editor is David Brakke of...

.

Early life and education

He received both his undergraduate bachelor degree and his first master's degree from Abilene Christian University in the mid 1950s. He immediately proceeded to Harvard University

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

 and received his Bachelor of Sacred Theology

Bachelor of Sacred Theology

The Bachelor of Sacred Theology is a graduate-level academic degree in theology.The Bachelor of Sacred Theology is offered by a number of Pontifical Universities. It is sometimes offered as a graduate degree, for students who have already completed a B.A. or other first degree...

 followed by a doctoral degree "with distinction" in History and Philosophy of Religion.

Awards and honors

During his education, Ferguson received such honors as the Honorary John Harvard Fellowship and Harvard Graduate School Fellowship. He later received awards from the Christian Research Foundation for both his dissertation, "Ordination in the Ancient Church," and for a translation of Gregory of Nyssa's

Gregory of Nyssa

St. Gregory of Nyssa was a Christian bishop and saint. He was a younger brother of Basil the Great and a good friend of Gregory of Nazianzus. His significance has long been recognized in the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Eastern Catholic and Roman Catholic branches of Christianity...

 Life of Moses. He was selected to speak as the John G. Gammie Senior Lecturer of the Southwest Commission for Religious Studies. He was later presented with a festschrift, The Early Church in Its Context: Essays in Honor of Everett Ferguson.

Memberships

Dr. Ferguson was a council member of the Association Internationale D'Etudes Patristiques, which seeks "to promote the study of Christian antiquity, especially the Fathers of the Church, without prejudice to work undertaken in this domain in various countries." He served for a term on the council of the American Society of Church History

American Society of Church History

The American Society of Church History was founded in 1888 with the disciplines of Christian denominational and ecclesiastical history as its focus. Today the society's interests include the broad range of the critical scholarly perspectives, as applied to the history of Christianity and its...

, and has also previously served as president of the North American Patristics Society, from which he received the Distinguished Service Award for more than thirty years of service.