Alexander R.G. Deasley

Alex R. G. Deasley was born in Scotland on May 10, 1935 and grew up after WW2 in Birmingham, England. After graduating from British Isles Nazarene College (now Nazarene Theological College), he proceeded to the University of Cambridge where he received the Honors B.A. and M.A. degrees. Following a period of research on the Dead Sea Scrolls, he received the Ph.D. degree from the University of Manchester.

Dr. Deasley spent several years in the pastoral ministry in Scotland and England; and from 1959-1969 was Lecturer in Biblical Studies at Nazarene Theological College, Manchester, being also Dean of the College from 1966-1969. He moved to Canada in 1972 and was Chairman of the Division of Religion and Professor of New Testament at Canadian Nazarene College, Winnipeg until 1977. He was Professor of New Testament at Nazarene Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Missouri from 1977-2002. Since 2002, he engaged in a worldwide ministry of preaching, teaching and writing.

Dr. Deasley was a member of various learned societies, lectured and preached widely in Europe, Australia, Asia and North America, and wrote reviews and articles in various journals. He authored a short study on Christian doctrine; was joint author of a commentary on Deuteronomy in the Beacon Bible Commentary; and contributed to two volumes and jointly edited the fifth volume in the five-volume series of Wesleyan Theological Perspectives (1981-86). From 1981-87 he served as editor of the Wesleyan Theological Journal, the official journal of the Wesleyan Theological Society. His most recent books were Marriage and Divorce in the Bible and the Church (Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City, 2000); The Shape of Qumran Theology based on his Didsbury Lectures and published by Paternoster Press, England in 2001; and the commentary on First Corinthians in the New Beacon Bible Commentary (Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City, 2021). In 2007 he was honored with a Festschrift: Holiness and Ecclesiology in the New Testament (Eerdmans: Grand Rapids and Cambridge).

In 1958 he married Joyce Metz of Red Deer, Alberta, Canada, who preceded him in death in 2018. They had two sons, Richard (Pam) and Jeremy (Jan) of Olathe, KS, one daughter Shauna Patton (Robert) of San Diego, CA and one grandson, Drake Deasley, of Jefferson City, MO.

Dr. Deasley passed on March 9, 2026 in Olathe, KS. A service to celebrate his life will be held at the Overland Park Church of the Nazarene, 9030 Lamar Ave., Overland Park, Kansas on Saturday, March 21st at 11:00 a.m. In lieu of flowers, donations in his name may be made to the church opnazarene.org or to ShelterKC shelterkc.org, of which Dr. Deasley and his wife were longtime supporters.

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