Biographical History

Spencer J. Palmer (1927-2000) was a professor of Church history and doctrine at Brigham Young University.

Spencer J. Palmer was born in 1927 in Eden, Arizona. He was raised in Thatcher, Arizona. He attended Eastern Arizona College before transferring to Brigham Young University. He took two years during his time at BYU to serve as a missionary in California. He left Brigham Young with a bachelor's degree. He continued his education at the University of California, Berkeley, obtaining a master's in East Asiatic Studies and a PhD in Oriental history. He married Shirley Ann Hadley in 1956 before he returned to Brigham Young University to teach church history and doctrine as a professor and was a scholar of comparative religion.

Palmer served as a chaplain for the US military in Korea and Japan. He would continue his ventures in Asia in 1993 when the Chinese government asked him to teach comparative religion to Ethnic Minority Groups in China. Palmer's death occurred seven years later, in 2000.

Citation:

Religious Studies Center, via WWW, Oct. 20, 2016 (Palmer, Spencer J.; b. 1927 Eden, Arizona; raised in Thatcher, Arizona; Eastern Arizona College; transferred to BYU, bachelor's; University of California, Berkeley, master's East Asiatic studies, PhD Oriental history; California Mission; m. 1956 Shirley Ann Hadley; US military chaplain, Korea, Japan; professor, Church history and doctrine, BYU, scholar of comparative religion; director of world religions division and Center for International and Area studies at BYU; predecessor to Kennedy Center; 1993 professor comparative religion, China, ethnic minority groups, chinese gov't called him; d. 2000)

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