Ray Sutton
American Anglican bishop
title: "Ray Sutton" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["living-people", "21st-century-anglican-bishops-in-the-united-states", "bishops-of-the-anglican-church-in-north-america", "bishops-of-the-reformed-episcopal-church", "presiding-bishops-of-the-reformed-episcopal-church", "reformed-episcopal-seminary-faculty", "southern-methodist-university-alumni", "alumni-of-wycliffe-hall,-oxford", "dallas-theological-seminary-alumni", "religious-leaders-from-louisville,-kentucky", "1950-births"] description: "American Anglican bishop" topic_path: "philosophy" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Sutton" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary American Anglican bishop ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox Christian leader"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| type | Bishop |
| honorific_prefix | The Most Reverend |
| name | Ray Sutton |
| title | Presiding Bishop of the Reformed Episcopal Church |
| image | Bishop-ray-sutton.png |
| alt | Bishop Sutton presents an icon to the Anglican Deaconesses Association. |
| caption | Sutton presents an icon to the Anglican Deaconesses Association. |
| church | Reformed Episcopal Church, Anglican Church in North America |
| diocese | Mid-America |
| term | 2016–present |
| predecessor | Royal U. Grote Jr. |
| consecration | July 29, 1999 |
| consecrated_by | Leonard W. Riches |
| birth_name | Raymond Ronny Sutton |
| birth_date | |
| birth_place | Louisville, Kentucky |
| alma_mater | |
| spouse | Susan Jean Schaerdel |
| children | 7 |
| :: |
| type = Bishop | honorific_prefix = The Most Reverend | name = Ray Sutton | honorific_suffix = | title = Presiding Bishop of the Reformed Episcopal Church | image = Bishop-ray-sutton.png | alt = Bishop Sutton presents an icon to the Anglican Deaconesses Association. | caption = Sutton presents an icon to the Anglican Deaconesses Association. | church = Reformed Episcopal Church, Anglican Church in North America | archdiocese = | diocese = Mid-America | see = | term = 2016–present | predecessor = Royal U. Grote Jr. | successor = | ordination = | ordinated_by = | consecration = July 29, 1999 | consecrated_by = Leonard W. Riches | rank = | birth_name = Raymond Ronny Sutton | birth_date = | birth_place = Louisville, Kentucky | death_date = | death_place = | other_post = | alma_mater = | spouse = Susan Jean Schaerdel | children = 7 | ordained deacon by = | date of diaconal ordination = | ordained priest by = William Jerdan Jr. | date of priestly ordination = February 1, 1989 | denomination = Reformed Episcopal Church | consecrated by = Leonard W. Riches | date of consecration = July 29, 1999 | place of consecration = Shreveport, Louisiana | bishop 1 = John Boonzaaijer | consecration date 1 = February 15, 2024 | bishop 2 = Jason Grote | consecration date 2 = June 4, 2025
Raymond Ronny Sutton (born 1950) is an American Anglican bishop. He was bishop coadjutor in the Diocese of Mid-America of the Reformed Episcopal Church, a founding member church of the Anglican Church in North America in 2009. He is the former rector of the Church of the Holy Communion in Dallas, Texas, president and Professor of Scripture and Theology at Cranmer Theological House in Houston, Texas, and headmaster of Holy Communion Christian Academy (formerly Bent Tree Episcopal School). Sutton was born in Louisville, Kentucky, and moved to Dallas at age thirteen.
He is currently head of the ecumenical relations committee of the Anglican Church of North America.
He took over the leadership of the Reformed Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Mid-America on November 24, 2016, upon the death of Royal U. Grote Jr., on a provisional level, with his installation taking place on June 15, 2017.
Personal life
Sutton is married to Susan Jean Schaerdel of Dallas. They have seven children and eight grandchildren.
Education
- Bachelor of Fine Arts [B.F.A.] – Southern Methodist University in (1972)
- Master of Theology [Th.M.] – Dallas Theological Seminary (1976)
- Doctor of Philosophy [Ph.D.] – Wycliffe Hall, Oxford University, in association with Coventry University (1998)
- Doctor of Theology (hon.) – Central School of Religion
- Doctor of Divinity (hon.) – Cummins Theological Seminary
Career
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/Church_of_the_Holy_Communion_in_North_Dallas,_Texas.jpg" caption="Church of the Holy Communion in North Dallas, Texas"] ::
Sutton was in parish ministry from 1976 to 1991. He was a co-pastor with James B. Jordan of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Tyler, Texas, which was a prominent church in the Christian Reconstructionist movement. Other members included Gary North and David Chilton. The church belonged to the Westminster Presbyterian Church of the Association of Reformation Churches in America. North praised Sutton for uncovering that Meredith G. Kline's five-point covenant model applied to the whole Bible, and that it applies to three covenant institutions of family, state and church.
Sutton was the dean and the Associate Professor of New Testament at the Reformed Episcopal Seminary in Philadelphia from 1991 to 1995; and the dean and Professor of Theology at Cranmer Theological House in Shreveport, Louisiana, from 1995 to 2001. Since the synod of the Reformed Episcopal Diocese of Mid America in February 2013, he is again the president of Cranmer Theological House based in the Houston area. Cranmer House also supports a satellite campus in Dallas at Sutton's parish, the Church of the Holy Communion (the diocese's pro-cathedral).
Sutton was ordained a bishop coadjutor of the Reformed Episcopal Church in 1999 and arrived at the Church of the Holy Communion in 2001.
Works
Sutton has authored several theology works:
- The Sacramental Theology of Daniel Waterland (Doctoral Thesis—Coventry University), 1998.
- Signed, Sealed and Delivered: A Study of Holy Baptism, Classical Anglican Press, Houston, TX (2001).
- Captains and Courts, a Biblical Defense of Episcopal Government.
- Second Chance: Biblical Principals of Divorce and Remarriage, Biblical Hope for the Divorced, Biblical Blueprint Series Vol. #10, The Institute for Christian Economics, (1988).
- That You May Prosper : Dominion by Covenant, The Institute for Christian Economics, (1987).
- Who Owns the Family? : God or the State? Biblical Blueprint Series Vol. #03 , Dominion Press, Ft. Worth, TX, (1986).
- Ray Sutton, David Chilton, Gary DeMar, Victoria T. deVries, Michael Gilstrap, Power for Living, Arthur S. DeMoss Foundation, (1983).
Articles
- Sutton, Ray R. "Covenantal Evil", Covenant Renewal 2 (1988) 4.
- Sutton, Ray R. "Oath and Symbol." Covenant Renewal 3 (1989) 4: 1–4.
- Sutton, Ray R. "Clothing and Calling." in The Reconstruction of the Church. Christianity and Civilization Vol 4. ed. James B. Jordan. Tyler, Texas: Geneva Ministries, (1985).
- Sutton, Ray R. "The Saturday Night Church and the Liturgical Nature of Man." in The Reconstruction of the Church. Christianity and Civilization Vol 4. ed. James B. Jordan. Tyler, Texas: Geneva Ministries, (1985).
- Ray R. Sutton, "The Church as a Shadow Government," Christianity and Civilization III: Tactics of Christian Resistance, Geneva Divinity School, (1983).
- Ray Sutton, "The Baptist Failure", Christianity & Civilization, James B. Jordan, ed., Geneva Divinity School, (1982).
Editor
- What is Anglicanism?, Latimer Press (2004), by Mark F. M. Clavier, co-edited by Ray Sutton and Peter C. Moore.
References
References
- "Bent Tree Episcopal School - Faculty and Staff".
- "All Saints Anglican Church Shreveport Louisiana Traditional".
- (June 15, 2017). "Bishop Ray Sutton Installed As New Presiding Bishop Of The Reformed Episcopal Church".
- "News - Reformed Episcopal Church".
- "DALLAS: Bishop Ray Sutton installed as new Presiding Bishop of the Reformed Episcopal Church, Virtue Online, 15 June 2017".
- (1988). "Stones and Cornerstones in Christian Reconstruction". Institute for Christian Economics.
- (March 25, 1997). "Chilton, Sutton, and Dominion Theology".
- (1999). "The Covenantal Kingdom: A Brief Summary of the Biblical Argument for Postmillennialism".
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