IRD President Diane Knippers Dies
Source: The Institute on Religion and Democracy
IRD President Diane Knippers died in Arlington, Virginia on Monday, April 18, of complications related to cancer. She was 53. Earlier this year she was named by Time magazine as one of America’s 25 most influential evangelicals.
Knippers was president of the IRD since 1993 and had worked for IRD since 1982. She was a leader of evangelical, renewal voices in mainline Protestantism, especially in the Episcopal Church, on whose Standing Commission on Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations she sat. She also served on the boards of the National Association of Evangelicals, the American Anglican Council, the Religious Liberty Commission of the World Evangelical Alliance, Five Talents (an Anglican micro-enterprise initiative), and the steering committee of Anglican Mainstream, International. She had written for The Wall Street Journal, The Weekly Standard, and Christianity Today, and appeared on CBS’s 60 Minutes, CNBC’s Capital Report, and PBS’s Religion and Ethics Newsweekly.
IRD Board Chairman J. Budziszewski, a professor at the University of Texas in Austin, recalled the story of Jesus’ devoted followers Mary and Martha, from the tenth chapter of the Gospel of Luke. Knippers was “that rare sort of disciple who served with both the diligence and energy shown by Martha, and the loving attention to her Master’s every word shown by Mary,” Budziszewski said. “As she is gathered up to Christ, we lose a dear friend and yokefellow.”
IRD Vice President Alan Wisdom, who worked with Knippers for almost 20 years, described Knippers as a “mentor” and a “faithful Christian witness amidst church and political conflicts.”
“She was firm in her conviction of God’s truth, and that firmness enabled her to show a great serenity and warmth towards others,” Wisdom said. “One of her consistent emphases was the importance of nurturing a new generation of church reformers. The members of the IRD staff show the results of Diane’s wise influence. We will miss her presence among us. But I am confident that God’s grace has equipped us through Diane, and will continue to equip us to carry her work forward.
Knippers was diagnosed with cancer in 2003 but maintained a full schedule almost until the end. She had just begun a writing leave from the IRD so she could work on books and articles.
Recently Knippers co-edited “Toward an Evangelical Public Policy,” which was organized by the National Association of Evangelicals. Her final public appearance was last month for a speech she presented at an NAE luncheon on Capitol Hill regarding that book.