Elizabeth Amy Eaton was born on April 2,1955 and is the fourth Presiding Bishop, and the first female Presiding Bishop, of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
12 Facts About Elizabeth Eaton
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Elizabeth Eaton was first elected to this post in 2013 and was re-elected for a second term in 2019.
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Elizabeth Eaton attended the College of Wooster where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in music education in 1977.
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In 1990, Elizabeth Eaton was appointed to a one-year term as interim pastor at Good Hope Lutheran Church in Youngstown, Ohio.
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Elizabeth Eaton then moved to Ashtabula, Ohio in 1991, where she became the pastor at Messiah Lutheran Church.
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Elizabeth Eaton was elected to the national ELCA Church Council in 2005, and in 2006, she was elected bishop of the Northeastern Ohio Synod.
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Elizabeth Eaton became the first woman to serve as bishop in the synod when she was installed on February 7,2007, at St Paul's Episcopal Church in Akron, Ohio.
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Elizabeth Eaton succeeded Marcus J Miller, who resigned in 2006 to become the president of the Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary in South Carolina.
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Elizabeth Eaton was elected Presiding Bishop of the ELCA on Wednesday, August 14,2013, on the fifth ballot.
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Elizabeth Eaton received 600 votes by the Churchwide Assembly, and the incumbent Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson received 287 votes.
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Elizabeth Eaton was installed as presiding bishop of the ELCA on October 5,2013, at Rockefeller Chapel in Hyde Park.
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In 2016, Elizabeth Eaton was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree by Luther College.