Meet Bishop W. Nicholas Knisely

Bishop Nicholas KniselyBishop Knisely became our diocesan bishop in November 2012. He was born and raised in Pennsylvania and met his wife Karen while they were both students at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster. Later, as a graduate student at the University of Delaware, he decided to leave behind his studies of Physics and Astronomy and was sent to Yale/Berkeley Divinity School to study for the priesthood. He completed his Masters of Divinity and was ordained to the diaconate in Delaware in 1991, then to the priesthood in 1992. In 2013 he received an Honorary Doctorate of Divinity, also from Berkeley Divinity School at Yale.

Bishop Knisely previously served as a priest in Delaware, Western and Eastern Pennsylvania, and as Dean of the Cathedral in Phoenix Arizona. He has been active in a number of ministries with particular focus in the areas of homelessness, communications, college and youth, finance, and ecumenical relations. He taught Physics and Astronomy for nearly seven years at Lehigh University while he was serving in Bethlehem PA. He was the first chair of the General Convention Standing Commission on Communications and Technology and was part of the Moravian-Episcopal Dialog that drew up the full communion agreement between the two denominations. Karen and Nicholas Knisely have been married for 30 years and have an adult daughter named Kenney.

Connect with Bishop Knisely

Email: bishopsoffice@episcopalri.org
Twitter: @wnknisely
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BishopWNKnisely/
Personal Blog: http://entangledstates.org
Diocesan Blog: https://www.episcopalri.org/connect/the-bishops-blog/
Instagram: @wnknisely

 

From the Bishop

  • In the Kingdom of God there is plenty for everyone
    According to gaming theory, any economic activity where both parties fully understand what is happening is a non-zero-sum game. We forget that a lot. We tend to think that buying and selling is a cut throat competition. …
  • A loving God who consigns to torture?
    There’s an apparent disconnect between the God Jesus describes in the Sermon on the Mount and the God imagined in this parable. Or is there? Notice that once the evil servant enters the social web of revenge and debts an …
  • A new community is dawning in a broken age
    All three of the readings assigned for this week are about relationship. The Hebrew Scriptures speak of the first Passover and the new covenantal relationship between God and the children of Abraham, Issac and Jacob. The …
  • God chooses to love us, and invites us to do the same
    Unselfish giving is defined as love. Literally it is what we mean we say that Agape is love. In one of John’s epistles we find the one “is” statement about God. St. John writes that “God is Love.” (Actually it’s: God is …
  • What it means to be a true Church
    There are some startling implications to be drawn from the Gospel passage this week. Jesus proclaims the nature of the Church and seems to tie it intimately to the recognition of the Creator in the Incarnation which is g …
  • Calling all citizen scientists! Lunar photos needed for climate research.
    An old friend of mine, Peter Thejll, a senior scientist with the Danish Meteorological Institute, is asking for help on a project (#NewMoonSnap) that will help to measure the reflectivity of the Earth (its albedo). The o …
  • We worship a God who conquers by being conquered
    I don’t like the idea that Jesus could be defeated. I think I know why it bothers me exactly. I suppose it has to do with who I believe Jesus to be. If Jesus can be tricked, or changed by a witty remark, is he still God? …
  • Here’s why Rhode Island is the only state that celebrates Victory Day | WPRI.com
    Here’s why Rhode Island is the only state that celebrates Victory Day | WPRI.com: “If ever a state was at the center of the American war effort in World War II, it was Rhode Island,” veteran political reporter Scott MacK …
  • The tragedy of the commons is a false and dangerous myth | Aeon Essays
    I’ve certainly read people who quoted from Garrett Hardin’s 1968 paper in Science “The Tragedy of the Commons” often enough. It’s a cautionary tale about how, if humans are left unchecked, our selfishness will destroy th …
  • Don’t worry about how miracles happened, try to understand what they mean
    Much of the literature and most of the sermons on this lesson focus on the miraculous nature of the event. Very few try to peer through to the meaning. The reason that so few people are spending the time to understand th …