BISHOP ITHIEL C. CLEMMONS, PHD

Bishop Ithiel C. Clemmons, PhD (1938-2015) was a member of the General Board (Presidium) of the Church of God in Christ. He was the Church’s historian and for many years oversaw the Prayer Initiative of the Church of God in Christ.

Bishop Clemmons was the Jurisdictional Prelate of Eastern New York First Jurisdiction, Pastors First Church of God in Christ, Brooklyn, New York; and COGIC Cathedral, home of Wells Memorial Church of God in Christ, Greensboro, North Carolina.

He was Adjunct-Professor of African-American Religious Studies at Regent University, Virginia Beach, Virginia and an occasional lecturer at the Duke University Divinity School. Bishop Clemmons was also Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Pentecostal/ Charismatic Churches of North American (PCCNA), a member of the Planning Committee of the North American Renewal Service Committee (NARSC) for the Harry Emerson Fosdick Convocation convening at Riverside Church, New York City in 1997. He was a member of the Board of Directors of the LeMan Corporation of Longwood, Florida. As a scholar, Bishop Clemmons was a past president of the Society for Pentecostal Studies (SPS).

He held master’s degrees in Education and Divinity and also doctoral degrees in Divinity and Church Planning from Union and New York Theological Seminaries in New York. He was awarded numerous honorary degrees from various colleges and universities including the Doctor of Divinity from the Charles Harrison Mason Seminary at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, Georgia.