Doctoral Faculty

by Phoenix Christian Preparatory School

Letter from the Editor

Congratulations to faculty members Dr. Keith de Laet and Dr. Ryan Stephens, who successfully passed their thesis review and received their Doctoral degrees.

Meet our DOCTORAL FACULTY

DR. KEITH DE LAET earned his Doctor of Ministry from Phoenix Seminary. He based his thesis research on the unique missional model Phoenix Christian adopted in the last decade. The purpose of the thesis was to evaluate current school methods, policies, and procedures in the light of Missional Theology as a whole to clarify the school’s mission, enabling PC to best meet the needs of our current students and their families. These adjustments fell into five specific areas.

1. Phoenix Christian is called to support church attendance and must look for ways to actively connect school families to local churches.

2. Phoenix Christian must emphasize the eternal truths of Christian faith understanding that it has existed and continues to exist in diverse cultures that may be simultaneously relevant to the people within those cultures.

3. Phoenix Christian must continually address ways in which the school culture may shift in terms of ethnicity, social-economic status, or other indicators and adjust as needed to express the unchanging truth of Christ within the changing context of the school, the city, the state, etc.

4. Phoenix Christian will express the faith as living and dynamic and clearly distinguish between matters of eternal truth and matters of preference.

5. Phoenix Christian needs to emphasize that an active faith can be put into practice naturally and we should look for and encourage community service opportunities that are natural, real, and relevant to our students as activity promotes more activity.

DR. RYAN STEPHENS earned his PhD in the Old Testament from Gateway Seminary. He shared that his topic was born out of his classes at PC. One of the most common questions students ask is “why do all these good men have multiple wives and God never says anything about it.” The traditional church answer of ‘God allows the consequences to speak for themselves’ never sat right with him so he decided to research this topic for his thesis project. “In the end I found that polygamy was allowed by God to provide for and protect women in the period of the Old Testament. This has allowed me to show my students all the ways God has provided for and protected people in a fallen world.”

Dr. Stephen’s Thesis abstract—“The Mosaic Law provides implicit support for polygamy as a licit practice in the Old Testament period. This assertion is contrary to the claims of a number of contemporary influential scholars. This study examines six key texts: Exodus 21:7-11; Leviticus 18:18; Deuteronomy 17:17; 21:15-17; 22:23-29; and 25:5-10. Each of these key texts are contested by various scholars in regards to their implications for understanding polygamy in the Bible. This project provides an examination of each of these key texts as well as a critical interaction with and evaluation of counter claims made by various scholars. This project provides clarity to the discussion of polygamy in the Bible by contributing a specific study of polygamy in the Mosaic Law in support of the view that polygamy was a licit practice in the Old Testament.”