Literature / Religion / Politics
Tim LaHaye
1926–2016 · evangelical minister, novelist, activist
Detroit-born co-author of the best-selling Left Behind novels and a key organizer of the Christian right, the son of a Ford autoworker.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan- Died
San Diego, California
aged 90- Birth name
- Timothy Francis LaHaye
- Detroit years
- 1926–1940s
- Field
- Literature, Religion, Politics
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
LaHaye was born in Detroit in 1926, the son of Frank LaHaye, a Ford autoworker, and Margaret Palmer. His father's sudden death from a heart attack in 1936, when Tim was nine, became the spiritual turning point he often described in his preaching. After serving in the Army Air Forces in World War II, he studied at Bob Jones University and spent his career as a Baptist pastor, most of it in San Diego. There he co-founded a Christian college and the Institute for Creation Research, and became a central organizer of the religious right, founding the Council for National Policy. With Jerry B. Jenkins he wrote the Left Behind series (1995–2007), apocalyptic thrillers that sold tens of millions of copies.
Highlights
- Co-author of the Left Behind novels, one of the best-selling fiction series of the 1990s–2000s
- Founder of the Council for National Policy (1981)
- Co-founder of the Institute for Creation Research
- Son of a Ford autoworker from Detroit