Brian L. Hanson

Brian Hanson is a composer, educator, historian, author, and church musician. He is currently Assistant Professor of Humanities and Theology at Bethlehem College & Seminary in Minneapolis. He holds degrees in piano performance, theology, and history, including a Ph.D. in Reformation Studies from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. In addition to his choral activities, Brian is active as a historian, writing and presenting conference papers on religious, social, and political themes in early modern England.  In 2010, he was named the winner of the John Ness Beck Foundation Award for his choral anthem, “Jesus, Lover of My Soul”. He is the author of “Waiting on the Spirit of Promise”, a biography of the seventeenth-century English minister, Abraham Cheare. Brian is also a music educator, and has served in several churches as worship leader and choral director. His wife, Johanna, is also a pianist, and together they have five children.