Jim Sweeney
Coalition Member
Jim Sweeney’s career was in higher education, where he largely focused on the development of men and women for Christian ministry. He gave thirty years to leadership in theological education, both in the US and abroad, serving as Academic Vice President and Provost, and Walter Benwell Hinson Professor of Pastoral Theology at Western Seminary in Portland, Oregon (1972-2002).
He taught at Judson College, Oregon State University, and Western Seminary in the fields of communication theory, rhetoric, and pastoral theology. He holds two graduate degrees in theology and received a PhD in higher education from Oregon State University. He was a visiting scholar at Harvard University from 1986-87, where his research centered on concerns regarding the professionalization of Christian ministry.
He has focused as well on applied innovation in training pastors, helping develop some of the earliest uses of distance learning and technology in that field. He has been engaged in higher education accreditation, serving as an institutional evaluator with the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities and the Association of Theological Schools. As pastor he has served churches in Kansas, North Carolina, Washington, and Oregon. In retirement he served from 2010-2015 as President of North Portland Bible College, an urban oriented college founded by African American churches.
Jim’s wife Katharine passed away in 2010 following a six-year battle with cancer. They had been married fifty-three years. Jim as well as his three daughters and their families live in the Portland area.