Alan P. F. Sell

Alan Philip Frederick Sell FSA, FRhistS (15 November 1935 – 7 February 2016) was a minister of the United Reformed Church and was formerly Professor of Christian Doctrine and Philosophy of Religion at the United Theological College, Aberystwyth in Wales. An author in the fields of philosophy, theology, ethics and history he held prominent positions in various ecumenical organizations including the World Alliance of Reformed Churches. He was educated at Pewley Grammar School in Guildford before undertaking ministerial training at Lancashire Independent College (later the Northern Congregational College) in Manchester. He took his Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Manchester in 1957; his Bachelor of Divinity degree at the same university in 1959 and took his Master of Arts degree there in 1961. He began his ministry with the United Reformed Church in 1959, commencing his pastorate in Westmorland and Worcestershire; Sell was a visiting professor at the University of Chester.

Academic career

From 1983 to 1987 Sell served as the Theological Secretary of the World Communion of Reformed Churches in Geneva, Switzerland. From here he went to the University of Calgary in Canada, where he was appointed to the Chair of Christian Thought (1988-1992).

Sell lived in Milton Keynes in his later years and he died in February 2016 in the Willen Hospice there.

Selected publications The Great Debate: Calvinism, Arminianism and Salvation, Baker Book House, 1983. Defending and Declaring the Faith: Some Scottish Examples, 1860-1920 Contributor James B. Torrance. Helmers & Howard, 1987. God Our Father, White Mane Pub, 2000 (Revised. 1st Edition, 1980). Philosophy in the Eighteenth-Century Dissenting Academies of England and Wales, (p. 75-122) in Volume XI of History of Universities. Ed. Laurence Brockliss. Oxford University Press, 1993. Mill on God: the Pervasiveness and Elusiveness of Mill's Religious Thought, Ashgate Publishing, 2004. Testimony and Tradition: Studies in Reformed and Dissenting Thought, Ashgate Publishing, 2005. Confessing and Commending the Faith: Historic Witness and Apologetic Method, Wipf & Stock Publishers, 2006.