Scott M. Manetsch, PhD
Raised in the home of parents who were both educators and committed evangelical Christians, Scott M. Manetsch learned early in life to value rigorous intellectual activity practiced coram Deo. After completing his B.A. in political philosophy from Michigan State University (1981), Dr. Manetsch enrolled at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, where he received the M.Div. (1986) and M.A. in Christian Thought/Church History (1988). Ordained to the ministry of Word and Sacrament in the Reformed Church in America, he served as an Associate Pastor of education and youth ministry at Peace Community Church (Frankfort, Illinois) from 1986 to 1989. During the decade that followed, Dr. Manetsch pursued doctoral studies in late medieval and Reformation history at the University of Arizona, studying with the world-recognized scholar Heiko A. Oberman. A Fulbright Fellowship enabled Dr. Manetsch and his wife Catherine to spend two years completing his doctoral research at the Institut d’histoire de la Réformation (University of Geneva). He was awarded the Ph.D. in history from the University of Arizona in 1997.
Dr. Manetsch served as Assistant Professor of Religion at Northwestern College (Iowa) for three years before coming to Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in 2000. His scholarly expertise is in the area of late medieval and Reformation history, with particular interest in Calvin and French Protestantism, Theodore Beza, sixteenth-century Geneva, church discipline, and pastoral ministry in the Reformation era. Since the publication of his dissertation under the title Theodore Beza and the Quest for Peace in France, 1572-1598 (Brill, 2000), Dr. Manetsch has conducted intensive research on the theology and practice of pastoral ministry in Reformation Europe. He has had the opportunity to present many of his research findings at scholarly conferences in Switzerland, Germany, France, and The Netherlands. Moreover, his articles on pastoral theology and practice in the age of the Reformation have appeared in edited volumes as well as in such journals as Church History, Westminster Theological Journal, and Bibliothèque d’Humanisme et Renaissance. Dr. Manetsch anticipates completing a monograph on this subject by the end of 2010, with the title One Venerable Company: Pastoral Care and Clerical Culture in Calvinist Geneva, 1559-1609. He is the associate general editor of the Reformation Commentary Series (InterVarsity Press), an editor of Christ on Campus Initiative, and a member of the Calvin Studies Society, Sixteenth Century Studies Society, and the American Society of Church History.
Dr. Manetsch and his wife Catherine (McKee) Manetsch live in Libertyville, Illinois with their two daughters, Hannah and Melissa. The family enjoys reading books together, camping, jogging, cycling, watching NCAA basketball, and spending summers in Geneva, Switzerland.
Email: smanetsc@tiu.edu