Walter Knowles, PhD

Interdisciplinarity

Walter Knowles has taken the challenge of integration as his life theme. A musician with substantial study in mathematics, a theologian who has spent much of his life in high technology, an Episcopal priest (ordained in the Anglican Church of Canada) who presides at the Eucharist from the organ bench, his theme comes from Paul’s description of Jesus in Colossians 1;17 “In [Christ] all things are held together.” (Pardon my Latin, but Jerome got it so right here: “et omnia in ipso constant”—“and everything finds its unity in him.”) The Christ who holds the universe of thought together is his personal hero.

Walt's Academic CV
Walt's musician’s resumé

Some highlights from his biography

As a musician:

• Chorister and alternate organist: Trinity College Chapel and Church of St. Mary Magdalene, Toronto, Ontario Canada
• Organist and director, Church of the Redeemer, Kenmore, WA
• Organist and director, St. Ignatius Church, San Francisco, CA
• Organist and director, All Saints’ Episcopal Church, San Francisco, CA

As a priest:

• Priest-in-charge, Anglican Parish of Oyen, Alberta, Canada
• Vicar, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Elma, WA and St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Montesano, WA
• Associate Rector for Liturgy and Music, Church of the Redeemer, Kenmore, WA
• Doctoral student, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, CA

As a high-tech entrepreneur and executive:

• Director of consulting and training services, Asymetrix Corporation, Bellevue, WA
• Independent consulting engineer for IBM, Exxon, Microsoft, and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
• Founder, CEO and CTO, Lucidoc Corporation, Kirkland, WA

As a scholar:

• A.B., Music history and literature, philosophy, Westmont College, Santa Barbara, CA. (Thesis: Bell music in 17^th century Holland)
• M.Div., Systematic Theology and Patristics, University of Trinity College, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (Thesis: Biblical infallability in the Church Fathers)
• Ph.D., Liturgical Studies with secondary specialization in Arts and Religion and Historical Musicology, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, CA (Dissertation: Numbering Liturgy: An Augustinian Aesthetics of Worship)

As one might well predict, Walt’s dissertation (which he is currently reworking for publication) studied the aesthetics and music theory of a patristic theologian (St. Augustine of Hippo) to understand how that philosophical foundation expressed itself in his technologies of worship, education, and leadership. It sounds all theoretical, but it is incredibly practical in the life of the church today. Click on work FOR the people to participate in a discussion of practicalities.

Website and content ©2010 by Walter Knowles All rights reserved.
For more information about LiturgicalStudies.org, please get in touch with us at info@liturgicalstudies.org.
Website developed by Walter Knowles.