Rev. John Fanestil, Ph.D.

 

A native of San Diego and an ordained Elder in the United Methodist Church,  I have worked across twenty-five years in Southern California at the intersections of the church, the academy and movements for social justice. 

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I have served as lead pastor at United Methodist congregations in Calexico, Los Angeles, Anaheim, and La Mesa, and have also worked as an executive and consultant for non-profit and social justice organizations.  Across the past ten years I have worked with others to protect public access to Friendship Park / El Parque de la Amistad, the historic meeting place on the U.S.-Mexico border.  Each Sunday I meet with friends from both countries at this location to share the sacrament of communion in a gathering we call El Faro: The Border Church / La Iglesia Fronteriza.

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My first book, Mrs. Hunter’s Happy Death: Lessons on Living from People Preparing to Die, was published by Doubleday in 2006.  In this book I told the story of Mary Hunter, a woman who died an extraordinary death in the year 1800, casting her story against the stories of people I had known in my work as a pastor who finished their lives with extraordinary grace.

 

I am now writing a book about religion and American origins for Yale University Press, expected date of publication is fall, 2019.  My writing has appeared in the Christian Century, the San Diego Union-Tribune and other publications. 

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In 2017, I completed the Ph.D. in History at the University of Southern California, with emphases in religion and early American history.  I am also a graduate of Dartmouth College, Oxford University, where I studied as a Rhodes Scholar, and the Claremont School of Theology.