Newfoundland Author, Tyndale Professor Killed in Motorcycle Accident

A Tyndale University Associate Professor of Christian Ministries with a recently published book from Whitaker House was killed on Saturday while enjoying his sabbatical in Newfoundland. Dr. Bradley Truman Noel was, according to reports killed when his motorcycle collided with a moose in South Brook, NFLD while he was riding with friends. He leaves his wife Melinda.

Tyndale made a formal announcement a few hours ago:

An abundance of tributes are being expressed online by current and former students and colleagues. Dr. Noel was more than a scholarly professor, he was a mentor and leader. Gifted at creating safe spaces, Dr. Noel was known for his ability to help students express differing opinions and theological viewpoints respectfully, while challenging them to expand their understanding.

In addition to his teaching, Bradley Noel had released two academic books on Pentecostalism through Wipf & Stock in 2010 and 2015, before releasing a general title, Tinder, Tattoos, and Tequila: Navigating the Gray Areas of Faith through Whitaker House in April of this year.

His biography with the publisher states,

A native of Newfoundland, Canada, Bradley Truman Noel was ordained by the Pentecostal Assemblies of Newfoundland and Labrador (PAONL) in 2000. He has served as a youth pastor and has taught Bible and theology at the college and university level for more than twenty years.

Since 2008, he has taught at Tyndale University, a Christian school in Toronto, where he serves as chair of the Christian Ministries Department. Brad previously taught at Acadia University, Vanguard College, and Master’s College and Seminary, where he created a variety of live and online courses.

He earned his Doctor of Ministry from Acadia University and his Doctor of Theology from the University of South Africa.

His book blurb summarized the book’s goals:

“The church has been plagued by two extremes when it comes to living a Christian lifestyle,” says author Bradley Truman Noel. “On one side, we have the serious folks adorned with a really impressive frown, who remind us of all the do’s and don’ts. On the other end of the spectrum are folks who play fast and loose with the rules. They typically don’t spend too much time thinking about holiness, or wondering if their actions align with biblical teaching.” Both sides, Bradley says, miss the power of God’s grace in our lives.

With the news of his passing, Tyndale’s press release quoted a student:

It was clear he cared more about loving you as an individual than just fulfilling his duties as a teacher. He had a special heart.

Another Tyndale student posted on Facebook:

Dr. Noel was a great professor and taught with great passion. Always encouraging enriching conversation and deeper studies in the scriptures.

 

---

Photos: upper: Whitaker House; lower, Tyndale University and Seminary

Brian Stiller’s New Book, In His Own Words

by Brian Stiller

It all started in Jerusalem, the home place of Christian witness. It then moved out into Asia and Europe, and in time elsewhere, but Europe continued for centuries to be the center of gravity. But then, in the twentieth century, the witness of Jesus broke out in new ways. It spread down through Africa, and a renewed form of faith infused Latin America and took hold in Asia. That center of gravity that once hovered over Jerusalem shifted westward, then south, with it now being around Timbuktu.

Today in every corner of the world, to over two billion people, Jesus has gone global.

Each book has a story. This one began years ago as I traveled, working with colleagues internationally, speaking at churches and staff conferences in various parts of the world. But it particularly took hold of me when in 2011, after stepping down as a university and seminary president, I was invited to immerse my life in the Christian community as global ambassador for the World Evangelical Alliance.

Be it in my home country of Canada or in visiting abroad, I was asked to speak on what I was seeing globally. In study and research, reflection, conversation, and observation, I saw particular forces (or as I note, drivers) at work, growing and reshaping the church. I tested these with missiologists, seeking to fairly and accurately identify what is at work today in our global Christian community.

Many factors impinge on and free up the gospel witness. Much has been written, as is indicated in the bibliography. My interest was to get to the heart of the drivers creating such remarkable growth. As Patrick Johnstone has noted about this period, “Evangelical Christianity grew at a rate faster than any other world religion or global religious movement.”1 In 1960, Evangelicals numbered just under 90 million, and by 2010 that had reached close to 600 million. I wanted to find out who and what they were. I also wanted to see what, within my lifetime, has engaged and continues to engage the reshaping of the church to which I belonged.

My life has been lived in the convictions and practices of an Evangelical community. Raised in the home of a Pentecostal church leader, after university—and for more than fifty years—I served in various Evangelical ministries, all the while building friendships and partnerships with Roman Catholics, Orthodox, and mainline Protestants. However, I know best this Christian communion. In general, my writing concerns itself with the Evangelical world, although occasionally statistics will encompass the entire Christian community.

A number of labels are used to describe this Christian world of “Evangelicals.” I include Pentecostals, as their history and theology is family in the Evangelical community. In some cases, to give emphasis, I use terms such as Evangelical/Pentecostal, or Evangelicals and Pentecostals, as in some countries, Pentecostals make up more than half of Evangelicals.

The shifting force of faith, in a world most often described in materialistic and commercial terms, is a factor that no longer can be denied, be it by a country leader, academic, or social observer. Each year, as more and more people in the Global South embrace Christian faith, the center of density of Christian populations pushes further south, leaving the real (and emblematic) city of Timbuktu toward places never before imagined.

 

Canada’s Brian C. Stiller is former President of Youth for Christ Canada, former President of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada former President of Tyndale University College and Seminary and is now Global Ambassador, The World Evangelical Alliance.

---

978-0-8308-4527-9 | 248 page paperback | IVP Web-page & Reviews | in Canada: Parasource Distribution

Author’s blog and source for this article: Dispatches From the Global Village