Elmer John Thiessen grew up in several small Mennonite villages and started school in a one-room school house in southern Saskatchewan, He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Waterloo and taught philosophy at Medicine Hat College in Alberta, for 36 years. Returning to Waterloo after retirement, he continued teaching part-time at Wilfrid Laurier University and at Emmanuel Bible College. Further international teaching stints have included Lithuania Christian College, Meserete Kristos College in Ethiopia, and the Caribbean Graduate School of Theology in Kingston, Jamaica. He has published numerous articles and book reviews, both in academic journals and religious magazines. His research specialties have been the philosophy of religious education and religious schooling, and the ethics of evangelism. In addition to his five published books, one of which was award winning, he has published over 70 articles in academic journals, over 75 book reviews in both secular and religious journals and magazines, and over 100 articles in both religious and secular magazines and newspapers.
