Tish Harrison Warren
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Tish Harrison Warren is an American author and
Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...
priest. She is known for the award-winning books ''Liturgy of the Ordinary'' (2016) and ''Prayer in the Night'' (2021), as well as for being a ''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' newsletter columnist.


Early life and education

She attended
Wake Forest University Wake Forest University (WFU) is a private research university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1834, the university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina. The R ...
, where she met her husband, Jonathan Warren Pagán, and graduated in 2001. Warren had grown up in
Southern Baptist The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), alternatively the Great Commission Baptists (GCB), is a Christian denomination based in the United States. It is the world's largest Baptist organization, the largest Protestantism in the United States, Pr ...
churches; after college, she joined a
Presbyterian Church in America The Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) is the second-largest Presbyterian church body, behind the Presbyterian Church (USA), and the largest conservative Calvinist denomination in the United States. The PCA is Calvinist, Reformed in theolog ...
congregation and interned in mercy ministries with a goal of working in full-time ministry. She and her husband enrolled in Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, where she graduated in with an M.A. in theology, and they moved to Nashville, where Warren Pagán undertook Ph.D. studies in church history at
Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private university, private research university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provide ...
and Warren worked as campus staff for
InterVarsity Christian Fellowship InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA (IVCF) is an evangelicalism, evangelical Christianity, Christian student movement with affiliate groups on university campuses in U.S.. It is a member of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students ...
(IVCF) at Vanderbilt.


InterVarsity at Vanderbilt

As a staff member for IVCF's Graduate Christian Fellowship chapter at Vanderbilt in 2011, Warren became a key figure in Vanderbilt's controversial "all-comers" policy requiring officially recognized campus religious groups to accept as leaders people of any faith, including those who did not share the group's faith. According to
NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...
, " e policy is forcing a dilemma for faith-based organizations: Either drop requirements that their leaders hold certain beliefs, or forfeit school funding and move off campus." IVCF, along with several other campus religious groups, argued that allowing non-adherents of its religious tradition to serve in leadership roles would require "student communities to surrender their particularities to guard against controversy and debate," Warren said at the time. In May 2011, Warren's group and others were put on probationary status. By the end of the spring 2012 semester, 15 campus faith groups representing
evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...
,
Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
, and
Mormon Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...
traditions—including IVCF, Baptist Collegiate Network,
Fellowship of Christian Athletes The Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) is an international nonprofit Christian sports ministry based in Kansas City, Missouri, Kansas City. History FCA was founded in 1954 by Eastern Oklahoma State College, Eastern Oklahoma A&M basketball c ...
, and Vandy Catholic—were deregistered and lost access to designated campus meeting spaces and on-campus recruiting. Other evangelical groups, such as the PCA-affiliated
Reformed University Fellowship Reformed University Fellowship (RUF) is the campus ministry organization of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). RUF has experienced rapid growth since the 1990s; its income in 1995 was $200,000 and grew to $24 million by 2012. RUF began on ...
, decided to accept Vanderbilt's terms for student leader participation. Warren framed the issue as one of the sustainability of pluralism in the university context. "Couching this discussion as 'the university vs. Christian students' is inaccurate, unhelpful, and allows the conversation to be caricatured and dismissed. Instead, this debate reflects a much more crucial question: Do we want different communities with conflicting narratives and ideologies to be authentically represented on campus or not?" She wrote. " e proper resolution is not to abrogate conflicting ideologies, but to learn to embody our robust particularities respectfully and intelligently." In response, the
Tennessee General Assembly The Tennessee General Assembly (TNGA) is the state legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is a part-time bicameral legislature consisting of a Tennessee Senate, Senate and a Tennessee House of Representa ...
passed HB 2576, which would have forced universities in Tennessee (including private schools like Vanderbilt) either to exempt religious groups from "all-comers"-style policies or to include their fraternities and sororities in the policy, which Vanderbilt had continued to exempt. In May 2012, Tennessee Gov.
Bill Haslam William Edward Haslam (; born August 23, 1958) is an American billionaire businessman and politician who served as the 49th governor of Tennessee from 2011 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, Haslam previously served as the 67th mayor of ...
issued his first gubernatorial veto, stating that " though I disagree with Vanderbilt's policy, as someone who strongly believes in limited government, I think it is inappropriate for government to mandate the policies of a private institution." Warren responded with appreciation for Haslam's comments and said she "hope that he will personally engage with both Vanderbilt administrators and the Christian groups on campus. Whether or not the legislature chooses to reintroduce the legislation, we will continue to seek to persuade the university to acknowledge the need of faith-based groups to select their leaders according to faith-based criteria." In April 2013, Haslam signed a similar version of the law that applied only to public universities in Tennessee, exempting private schools like Vanderbilt. As of 2023, IVCF remains an unrecognized organization at Vanderbilt. Of the experience, Warren later wrote: "I thought I was an acceptable kind of evangelical. I'm not a fundamentalist. My friends and I enjoy art, alcohol, and cultural engagement. We avoid spiritual clichés and buzzwords. We value authenticity, study, racial reconciliation, and social and environmental justice. Being a Christian made me somewhat weird in my urban, progressive context, but despite some clear differences, I held a lot in common with unbelieving friends. We could disagree about truth, spirituality, and morality, and remain on the best of terms. . . . Then, two years ago, the student organization I worked for at Vanderbilt University got kicked off campus for being the wrong kind of Christians."


Writing career

According to
Religion News Service Religion News Service, branded as RNS, is a news agency founded in 1934. It covers religion, ethics, spirituality and moral issues, and publishes news, information, and commentaries on faiths and religious movements to newspapers, magazines, bro ...
, Warren "did not set out to become a professional writer and only began writing in 2013, when as an InterVarsity staff member she published a short piece for VCF blog''The Well'' that went viral." The article addressed how she—who as a young woman had lived in intentional Christian communities, been attracted to "
New Monasticism New Monasticism is a diverse movement, not limited to a specific religious denomination or church and including varying expressions of contemplative life. These include evangelical Christian communities such as " Simple Way Community" and Jonatha ...
" and
Dorothy Day Dorothy Day, Oblate#Secular oblates, OblSB (November 8, 1897 – November 29, 1980) was an American journalist, social activist and Anarchism, anarchist who, after a bohemianism, bohemian youth, became a Catholic Church, Catholic without aba ...
and worked with impoverished populations in the U.S. abroad—found herself "a thirty-something with two kids living a more or less ordinary life. And what I'm slowly realizing is that, for me, being in the house all day with a baby and a two-year-old is a lot more scary and a lot harder than being in a war-torn African village. What I need courage for is the ordinary, the daily every-dayness of life."


''Liturgy of the Ordinary''

In 2016,
InterVarsity Press Founded in 1947, InterVarsity Press (IVP) is a Christian publisher located in Lisle, Illinois. IVP focuses on publishing Christian books and digital resources that discuss influential cultural moments, provide tools for mental growth through a ...
published Warren's first book, ''Liturgy of the Ordinary'', an expansion of that theme involving daily habits and practices. According to Religion News Service columnist Jonathan Merritt, "Tish Harrison Warren says we can't know God in the abstract, but only in the concrete. So she explores ways to transform your mundane routines into meaningful rituals. The kind of rituals that nurture God's presence and awaken your spirit to new life. Here we discuss how everything from making your bed to brushing your teeth can help you uncover holy in your midst." ''Liturgy of the Ordinary'' was well-reviewed; ''
Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...
'' gave it a starred review, noting that "Warren seamlessly blends together lived realities with theological reflections. Her writing is lyrical and often humorous, and she has a gift for making theological concepts seem easy to understand and (perhaps most importantly) easy to live."
The Gospel Coalition The Gospel Coalition (TGC) is "a fellowship of evangelical churches in the Reformed tradition". It was initiated in 2004 by D. A. Carson and Tim Keller, and subsequently launched in 2007. History Having been initiated in 2004 by theologian ...
's ''Themelios'' journal called it "a delightful book that should find a receptive audience among evangelicals of all stripes and types." The ''Themelios'' reviewer noted that Warren was influenced by
Calvin University Calvin University, formerly Calvin College, is a private Christian university in Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1876, Calvin University is an educational institution of the Christian Reformed Church and stands in the Reforme ...
's
James K. A. Smith James Kenneth Alexander Smith (born 1970) is a Canadian-American philosopher who is currently Professor of Philosophy at Calvin University, holding the Gary & Henrietta Byker Chair in Applied Reformed Theology & Worldview. He is the current edit ...
, "tak ngSmith's more technical treatment of a liturgical approach to culture, popularizes it, and applies it to the “micro-culture” that is every individual's or family's particular experiences." The ''
Christianity Today ''Christianity Today'' is an evangelical Christian media magazine founded in 1956 by Billy Graham. It is published by Christianity Today International based in Carol Stream, Illinois. ''The Washington Post'' calls ''Christianity Today'' "eva ...
'' reviewer noted that "''Liturgy of the Ordinary'' isn't the first book written in praise of prosaic moments, and Warren's isn't the first voice to counsel slowing down. But Warren admirably explores these themes from both a theological and practical perspective." ''Christianity Today'' later named ''Liturgy of the Ordinary'' its 2018 Book of the Year. In 2019, InterVarsity Press announced that counterfeiters had sold $240,000 worth of fake copies of ''Liturgy of the Ordinary'' on Amazon—as many as 20,000 copies, compared to the 121,000 legitimate copies sold by IVP up to that point, the press estimated, part of a wave of literary piracy revealed that year to have affected several major authors.


''Prayer in the Night''

Warren's second book, ''Prayer in the Night: For Those Who Work or Watch or Weep'', was released in 2021. Its title alludes to a prayer in the
Book of Common Prayer The ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP) is the title given to a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion and by other Christianity, Christian churches historically related to Anglicanism. The Book of Common Prayer (1549), fi ...
's liturgy for
Compline Compline ( ), also known as Complin, Night Prayer, or the Prayers at the End of the Day, is the final prayer liturgy (or office) of the day in the Christian tradition of canonical hours, which are prayed at fixed prayer times. The English wor ...
, which Warren prayed in 2017, a year in which her father died and she suffered
miscarriage Miscarriage, also known in medical terms as a spontaneous abortion, is an end to pregnancy resulting in the loss and expulsion of an embryo or fetus from the womb before it can fetal viability, survive independently. Miscarriage before 6 weeks ...
. According to the Gospel Coalition's review, "Warren offers the inherited prayers and liturgical practices of the church as cairns to follow, manmade stone structures that point us in the right direction when the fog of suffering obscures our way." ''Prayer in the Night'' was recognized as book of the year by the
ECPA The Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 (ECPA) was enacted by the United States Congress to extend restrictions on government wire taps of telephone calls to include transmissions of electronic data by computer ( ''et seq.''), added ne ...
. In 2022, Warren co-authored a children's book called ''Little Prayers for Ordinary Days''.


''New York Times'' newsletter

In August 2021, the ''New York Times'' "Opinion" section launched its first set of subscriber-only email newsletters, with Warren brought on to "reflect on matters of faith in private life and public discourse." Other authors of ''Times''-exclusive newsletters alongside Warren were
Tressie McMillan Cottom Tressie McMillan Cottom (born October 9, 1976) is an American writer, sociologist, and professor. She is an associate professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill UNC School of Information and Library Science, School of Informatio ...
,
Jay Caspian Kang Jay Caspian Kang (born December 31, 1979) is an American writer, editor, television journalist and podcast host. He is a staff writer at ''The New Yorker''. Previously he was an editor of ''Grantland'', a reporter for ''The New York Times Magazin ...
,
Kara Swisher Kara Anne Swisher ( ; born December 11, 1962) is an American journalist. She has covered the business of the internet since 1994. As of 2023, Swisher was a contributing editor at ''New York (magazine), New York Magazine'', the host of the podcast ...
, and
John McWhorter John Hamilton McWhorter V (; born October 6, 1965) is an American linguist. He is an associate professor of linguistics at Columbia University, where he also teaches American studies and music history. He has authored a number of books on race ...
. Warren's newsletters—also published as columns on the ''Times'' website—have addressed topics like
abortion Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnan ...
,
COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...
,
smartphone A smartphone is a mobile phone with advanced computing capabilities. It typically has a touchscreen interface, allowing users to access a wide range of applications and services, such as web browsing, email, and social media, as well as multi ...
use, sexual abuse in churches,
religious freedom Freedom of religion or religious liberty, also known as freedom of religion or belief (FoRB), is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice ...
, and
pluralism Pluralism in general denotes a diversity of views or stands, rather than a single approach or method. Pluralism or pluralist may refer more specifically to: Politics and law * Pluralism (political philosophy), the acknowledgement of a diversi ...
. Warren's columns have attracted controversy. In a January 2022 column recommending churches drop
online services An online service provider (OSP) can, for example, be an Internet service provider, an email provider, a news provider (press), an entertainment provider (music, movies), a search engine, an e-commerce site, an online banking site, a health site, ...
, Warren wrote that "the cost of being apart from one another is steep. People need physical touch and interaction. We need to connect with other human beings through our bodies, through the ordinary vulnerability of looking into their eyes, hearing their voice, sharing their space, their smells, their presence. . . . bodiment is a particularly important part of Christian spirituality and theology." The column received pushback from commentators, with
Episcopal Episcopal may refer to: *Of or relating to a bishop, an overseer in the Christian church *Episcopate, the see of a bishop – a diocese *Episcopal Church (disambiguation), any church with "Episcopal" in its name ** Episcopal Church (United States ...
historian
Diana Butler Bass Diana Butler Bass (born 1959) is an American historian of Christianity and an advocate for progressive Christianity. She is the author of eleven books. Bass earned a PhD in religious studies from Duke University in 1991 with an emphasis on ...
saying, "I'm getting phone calls asking me how the Episcopal Church can harbor views like Tish Warren's on disability. . . . Michael Curry's office should be on the freaking phone with the editor of the ''New York Times'' about this - because her posing as "Anglican" (as well as another writer they host on their platform) is creating real problems at this point." Warren, who is a priest in the
Anglican Church in North America The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) is a Christian denomination in the Anglican tradition in the United States and Canada. It also includes ten congregations in Mexico, two mission churches in Guatemala, and a missionary diocese in Cuba. ...
, acknowledged the response to her column, noting in particular the value of online services for the disabled. Warren's defenders included Campaign president Justin Giboney, who said that Warren "stands in the middle of the public square and addresses society with love and truth. No one is above critique, but we should all recognize Tish's courage, intellectual honesty and faithfulness." Warren published the final issue of her newsletter in August 2023.


Ordination and ministry career

After leaving IVCF at Vanderbilt, Warren served as a campus staff member for IVCF at the
University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...
. At the same time, Warren was in the ordination process in the
Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh The Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh is a diocese of the Anglican Church in North America. It has parishes in the several counties of Western Pennsylvania. In addition, the diocese has oversight of several parishes that are not located within its ...
under the mentorship of
Thomas McKenzie Sir Thomas Mackenzie (1853–1930) was prime minister of New Zealand in 1912, and later high commissioner. Thomas Mackenzie or Thomas McKenzie may also refer to: *Thomas MacKenzie (Russian admiral) (1740–1786), rear admiral, founder of Se ...
. She and her husband were ordained to the priesthood in 2014 by Archbishop Robert Duncan. The Warrens became co-associate rectors at the Church of the Ascension in
Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...
in 2017. In 2021, they returned to Austin to serve at a church in the
Diocese of Churches for the Sake of Others The Diocese of Churches for the Sake of Others (C4SO) is a non-geographical diocese of the Anglican Church in North America. Formed as a diocese in 2013, C4SO originated as the West Coast church planting Church planting is a term referring to th ...
. Warren held
complementarian Complementarianism is a theological view in some denominations of Christianity, Rabbinic Judaism, and Islam, that men and women have different but complementary roles and responsibilities in marriage, family, and religious life. Some Christians ...
views for most of her life, but during the Warrens' seminary studies, Jonathan Warren changed his views on
women's ordination The ordination of women to ministerial or priestly office is an increasingly common practice among some contemporary major religious groups. It remains a controversial issue in certain religious groups in which ordination was traditionally res ...
. “That began a journey of him and I reading and arguing and studying,” Tish Warren said. “The joke is that eventually I finally submitted to my husband and got ordained.” However, Warren has said that she dislikes arguing about women's ordination. " w of us become pastors in order to talk about women's ordination. We get ordained because the gospel has captured our imaginations." She has also said that she rarely wears her
clerical collar A clerical collar, Roman collar, clergy collar, or, informally, dog collar, is an item of Christian clerical clothing. Overview The clerical collar is almost always white and was originally made of cotton or linen but is now frequently made of pl ...
in public so as not to be treated as an avatar of a theological or cultural debate.


References


Bibliography

* * * *


External links


Tish Harrison Warren official websiteWarren's ''New York Times'' columns
{{DEFAULTSORT:Warren, Tish Harrison American Anglican Church in North America priests 21st-century American women writers Writers from Austin, Texas American Christian writers The New York Times journalists Women Anglican clergy Anglican writers Wake Forest University alumni Gordon–Conwell Theological Seminary alumni Living people 1979 births