Kendall: A Brief Biography

In honor of Kendall’s birthday, with help from Elizabeth Harmon, we’ve updated Kendall’s biography.

About The. Rev. Dr. Kendall S. Harmon

Born in 1960 in Illinois and raised in central New Jersey, Kendall Harmon is a graduate of the Lawrenceville School. He experienced meeting Jesus Christ personally at age eighteen. Kendall went to Maine where he attended Bowdoin College. He was an active communicant at St Matthew’s, Lisbon Falls, and a chemistry major at Bowdoin. He graduated, Phi Beta Kappa and Summa Cum Laude, in 1982. He received seminary training at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia from 1982 to 1984, and Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry, from which he graduated in 1987. He met his wife, Elizabeth, a nurse at Allegheny General Hospital, during this time. From 1987 to 1990 he served as Assistant Rector of Church of the Holy Comforter, Sumter, South Carolina, where their oldest child, Abigail, was born.

The Harmons moved to Oxford, England in 1990. There, Elizabeth worked at the John Radcliffe Hospital and their two youngest children, Nathaniel and Selimah Marie, were born. In 1993 Kendall was awarded his Doctor of Philosophy from Oxford University, defending a dissertation on some twentieth-century theological explorations of the doctrine of hell.

Upon returning to South Carolina in 1993, Kendall was called to St Paul’s Episcopal Church in Summerville. The current rector, the Rev Michael Lumpkin, called him to serve as Theologian – in – Residence, a position he held from 1996-2001. His ministry during this period emphasized preaching, teaching, and writing, particularly in the area of eschatology, or the study of the last things. For example, he taught in parishes in the diocese of South Carolina on the film “Left Behind,” noting that while it raises important questions its answers are desperately wanting.

Dr Harmon’s writings have appeared in various publications within the Church, including Episcopal Life, The Living Church, The Anglican Digest, Church Times, and the Church of England Newspaper. Outside the Church his commentary has appeared in the Charleston Post and Courier, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and the Cleveland Plain-Dealer. An edited section of his doctoral thesis, “Nothingness and Human Destiny: Hell in the Thought of C.S. Lewis,” appeared in The Pilgrim’s Guide: C.S. Lewis and the Art of Witness (Eerdmans, 1998).

Dr Harmon has served in many positions in the diocese of South Carolina, including those of member of the Standing Committee and Examining Chaplain. At the national level, he served as a deputy to the 1997, 2000, 2003 and 2006 General Conventions.

Since January 2002, Dr. Harmon has been serving as Canon Theologian of the Diocese of South Carolina and editor of the Anglican Digest , one of the largest circulation publications in the Anglican Communion. He is also assistant editor of the Jubilate Deo, the diocesan newspaper for the diocese of South Carolina, director of communications for the Diocese of South Carolina, and Assistant Rector of Christ/Saint Paul’s Yonges Island , South Carolina. Early in 2009 Kendall was appointed as the Anglican Communion Development Director in the Diocese of South Carolina. In his free time he edits the Titusonenine blog, a popular site for articles and discussion on religion, theology and culture.