Samford University’s Beeson Divinity School faculty were recognized for excellence in scholarship during an extraordinary year of publishing and research in 2019-20.
Paul R. House, professor of Old Testament, received The Center for Biblical Studies’ Biblical Foundations Book Award in February 2020 for the best Old Testament Commentary for his Isaiah: A Mentor Commentary, Volumes 1-II (2019). Professor of New Testament Frank Thielman’s commentary, Romans (Zondervan Exegetical Commentary, 2018), was a finalist in the category of Bible Reference Works for the 2020 Christian Book Award.
Seven of Beeson’s 20-member faculty published 12 books in 2020 with a few of these titles set to release at the beginning of 2021. This impressive list includes two commentaries on Galatians written by Timothy George, distinguished professor of divinity and Beeson’s founding dean, and Thielman.
Two professors in Beeson’s Christian Preaching department each published works this year. Michael Pasquarello III’s The Beauty of Preaching: God's Glory in Christian Proclamation (Eerdmans) released in August, and Douglas D. Webster’s The Sermon on the Mount in Our Secular Age (Regent College) released in February. Research Professor Gerald L. Bray also published, Preaching the Word with John Chrysostom (Lexham Press).
The Oxford Handbook of Jonathan Edwards (Oxford University Press), which offers a state-of-the-art summary of scholarship on Edwards by leading scholars on all six major continents, is set to release at the end of this year co-edited by Beeson’s Dean Douglas A. Sweeney.
In addition to these recent publications, Beeson’s distinguished faculty is currently working on approximately 25 contracted projects. Some of these include:
- Carl Beckwith, professor of history and doctrine: Hilary of Poitiers and the Trinity for The Doctrine of the Trinity: Retrieving Nicene Orthodoxy for Renewal Today (IVP Academic)
- Timothy George: Baptists: A Brief History (B&H Academic) and Mothers of the Reformation (Zondervan Academic, co-authored with Kristen Padilla)
- Mark Gignilliat, professor of Old Testament: Reading the Old Testament as Christian Scripture (Baker Academic) and Isaiah in the Christian Formation Commentary (Eerdmans)
- Stefana Dan Laing, assistant professor of spiritual formation: Co-editor of a new CSB Women’s Study Bible (LifeWay)
- Kenneth Mathews, professor of Old Testament: Genesis 1-11:26 and Genesis 11:27-50:26 in the Christian Standard Commentary (B&H Academic)
- Osvaldo Padilla, professor of New Testament: The Pastoral Epistles in the TNTC (IVP Academic) and co-editor of The New Testament in Color commentary (IVP Academic)
Faculty also contributed more than 30 articles, book chapters and reviews in the past year, including "Ruth: Reading Gender and Eschatology" in Presbyterion: Covenant Seminary Review by Sydney Park, associate professor of New Testament, and “Promising the Impossible: Baptist Church Covenants Then and Now,” in Criswell Theological Review by Mark DeVine, associate professor of history and doctrine.
Prior to the pandemic, Beckwith presented lectures at Lutheran seminaries in Denmark and Norway in early 2020. Associate Dean Thomas L. Fuller was the keynote preacher this fall for the Alaska Baptist Convention Pastors Conference. Piotr Małysz, associate professor of history and doctrine, will present one of the keynote addresses at the Pro Ecclesia Conference in Baltimore in 2021, which was rescheduled from this year.
“Beeson’s faculty productivity is amazing,” said Sweeney. “Not only are these brothers and sisters outstanding scholars, they are outstanding teachers, preachers and servants of the church who do everything they do in the service of the Lord. They are just the kind of people we want modeling Christian faith and ministry for our students.”
Beeson's faculty has published around 150 books total with many of these used as standard textbooks across theological institutions and departments, including Introducing Biblical Hebrew (Allen P. Ross, professor of Old Testament), Old Testament Theology (House), New Testament Theology (Thielman), Theology of the Reformers (George), Doctrine that Dances: Bringing Doctrinal Preaching and Teaching to Life (Robert Smith Jr., professor of Christian preaching). The school’s faculty also has published commentaries or major tomes on 24 books of the Bible and has published works with the most prestigious publishers, including Cambridge Press, Oxford Press, T&T Clark, Yale University Press and Baylor University Press.
Faculty also lead and serve on major committees, including the English Standard Version Oversight Translation Committee (House and Thielman), editorial board of the German journal Kerygma und Dogma (Małysz), Old Testament editor for T&T Clark’s International Theological Commentary (Gignilliat), Baptist World Alliance (George and Laing), editorial board for international journal Christian Higher Education (Fuller), general editor of the Reformation Commentary on Scripture (George), co-chair of Evangelicals and Catholics Together (George) and advisory board of the Center for Pastor Theologians (Sweeney).
Learn more about Beeson’s faculty.
