Paul Alexander Rader (March 14, 1934 – January 18, 2025), was an American religious leader, who was the 15th

General of the Salvation Army General is the title of the international leader and chief executive officer of The Salvation Army, a Christian denomination with extensive Charitable organization, charitable social work, social services that gives quasi-military rank to its Min ...

from 1994 to 1999, and was the President of

Asbury University Asbury University is a Private university, private Christian university in Wilmore, Kentucky, United States. Although it is a non-denominational school, the college is aligned with the Holiness movement, Wesleyan-Holiness movement and is a memb ...

in Wilmore, Kentucky, from 2000 to 2006.

Biography

Born in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

in 1934, Rader spent his undergraduate years at

, then studied at the

Asbury Theological Seminary Asbury Theological Seminary is a Christian Wesleyan seminary in the historical Methodist tradition located in Wilmore, Kentucky. It is the largest seminary of the Wesleyan-Holiness movement. It is known for its advocacy of egalitarianism, giv ...

and the

Southern Baptist Theological Seminary The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS) is a Baptist theological institute in Louisville, Kentucky. The seminary was founded in 1859 in Greenville, South Carolina, where it was at first housed on the campus of Furman University. The s ...

, graduating with BA, BD and MTh degrees. At Asbury, he met and married his wife, Kay, who upon graduating with a BA degree, qualified as a teacher. Together, they entered the Salvation Army School for Officers Training in New York in September 1960 and were commissioned a year later. Lieutenant Rader and his wife temporarily assisted at

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area. ...

Central Corps, while learning the

Korean language Korean is the first language, native language for about 81 million people, mostly of Koreans, Korean descent. It is the national language of both South Korea and North Korea. In the south, the language is known as () and in the north, it is kn ...

with the intention to serve as missionaries there. They arrived in

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

, in January 1962 to serve on the staff of the Officer Training College. After five years, Captain Rader was appointed vice-principal. They returned to America for two years in 1971 where Rader, now a captain and then a major, was assigned to Southern California Divisional Headquarters and his wife to Pasadena Corps, in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. While in California, Rader studied at Fuller Seminary, earning his doctorate in

Missiology Missiology is the academic study of the Christian mission history and methodology. It began to be developed as an academic discipline in the 19th century. Definition Broadly speaking, missiology is "an interdisciplinary field of inquiry into Ch ...

. In August 1973, they again returned to Korea, to serve first as training principal, then later as Territorial Education Secretary. In October 1977, Major Rader was appointed chief secretary and promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel. In February 1984, Rader returned to the United States after 22 years of service to serve as principal of the School for Officers' Training in

Suffern, New York Suffern is a Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village that was incorporated in 1796 in the town of Ramapo, New York, Ramapo in Rockland County, New York. Located adjacent to the town of Mahwah, New Jersey, Suffern is located 31 miles ...

. He then was awarded a

Doctor of Laws A Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) is a doctoral degree in legal studies. The abbreviation LL.D. stands for ''Legum Doctor'', with the double “L” in the abbreviation referring to the early practice in the University of Cambridge to teach both canon law ...

(LLD) degree from Asbury. In January 1989, Colonel Rader was appointed chief secretary of the USA Eastern Territory, and in October 1989 was promoted to the rank of commissioner and became leader of the USA Western Territory. Then in 1994 he was elected general of The Salvation Army where he served until 1999. He served as president of

from 2000 through 2006 and was Asbury's 15th president. Rader retired as president in 2006. Rader was the great-nephew of evangelist Paul Rader.

Death

Rader died on January 18, 2025.

References

External links

Salvation Army biographyAsbury College
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rader, Paul 1934 births 2025 deaths American Christian religious leaders American Salvationists Presidents of Asbury University Asbury Theological Seminary alumni Southern Baptist Theological Seminary alumni Salvation Army officers Asbury University alumni