The Rt. Rev. J. Neil Alexander

Denomination: The Episcopal Church (TEC)
Organization: Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta, GA

The Right Rev. J. Neil Alexander is the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta, GA.

Bishop J. Neil Alexander was elected the ninth bishop of the Diocese of Atlanta on March 31, 2001, and was ordained and installed on July 7, 2001, at the Cathedral of St. Philip in Atlanta, Ga.

At the time of his election, Bishop Alexander was the Norma and Olin Mills Professor of Divinity at the University of the South School of Theology and was priest in charge of St. Agnes’ Church in Cowan, Tenn. Previously he served as the Trinity Church Professor of Liturgics and Preaching at The General Theological Seminary in New York, while serving in a variety of parish settings. He has also taught at Yale, Drew and Wilfrid Laurier universities.

He received a B.A. in music from Moravian College in 1976, followed by a master’s in music from the University of South Carolina in 1979. He earned a master of divinity from Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary in 1980 and a doctor of theology in liturgics from The General Theological Seminary in 1993.

Formerly a Lutheran pastor, he was ordained in the North Carolina Synod of the Lutheran Church in America in and served Faith Lutheran Church in Murray Hill, N.J. He then served as professor of liturgics and spirituality and dean of Keffer Memorial Chapel at Waterloo (Ontario) Lutheran Seminary.

Bishop Alexander was born January, 23, 1954, in Winston-Salem, N.C., and has been married to Lynn Tesh Alexander, a pediatric nurse practitioner, since 1976. Their children are John Jr., Kelly and Mary Catherine. Kelly recently served as a member of the Episcopal Church's Young Adult Service Corps in Tanzania.

Bishop Alexander has served the wider church as a representative of the Episcopal Church to the 2005 meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council. He serves as chair of the Episcopal Church Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music, as a regent of the University of the South, Sewanee, Tenn., and as a member of the board of the Archives of the Episcopal Church. He has also served on the board of The General Theological Seminary and is an active supporter of the Msalato Theological College in the Diocese of Central Tanganyika.

Bishop Alexander is the author of This Far by Grace: A Bishop’s Journey Through Questions About Homosexuality, as well a number of publications in the fields of liturgics, homiletics, sacramental theology and pastoral practice. In 2006 he was named one of four bishops nominated by a special committee seeking a new presiding bishop. He has led a number of pilgrimages and mission trips to dioceses in Africa and South America and is placing a special focus on relationships with global-south dioceses.