The Beeson Difference Local pastors talk about the benefits of a Beeson education
The Beeson Difference: Local pastors talk about the benefits of a Beeson education 16 Shooting 2: Britton Johnson shares joint degree journey 17 Tennent Arrives at Beeson
18 Pounds Retires after 25 Years of Service
20 Learning to Trust: Beeson graduate testifies to God's faithfulness
21 Study and Service: Graduates shares story of working and studying at Beeson
22 Beeson Graduates Start Online Biblical Languages Classroom
Stefana Dan Laing
Creeds
with Douglas Sweeney, Timothy George, Gerald Bray and Mark Gignilliat
Dean
Douglas A.
Editor
Neal Embry
Designer
Scott Camp
Creative
Sarah Waller
Miles
Copy
Lauren Brooks
Contributor
Stefana Dan Laing
Photos taken by Stefana Dan Laing show modern-day Iznik, the historical site of the Council of Nicaea in 325 and the second council in 787.
From The Editor
During my sophomore year of college, the Lord used a church history class to change my life. I had grown up in a great church that taught me the Bible, nurtured my love of Jesus and impressed me with the potential of crosscultural missions. But I entered Christian college with little knowledge of church history and no appreciation for the creeds and confessions that God had used through history to guide and direct our churches’ preaching and discipleship. God rectified this problem beginning with that class. At the end of my sophomore year, I changed my undergraduate major—from economics to history—so that I could keep learning about the church’s “great tradition.”
And about a decade later, I was serving the Lord as a fulltime church history teacher.
We Protestants, of course, affirm and defend what many call the “Scripture principle,” the doctrine that the Bible is the ultimate authority for Christian faith and practice. Some within our ranks take this notion to an extreme, holding “no creed but the Bible.” But at Beeson Divinity School, we have always understood that our creeds and confessions are derived from the Bible and help us keep our preaching, teaching and discipleship traditional and orthodox. They are not God-breathed in the way the Bible is. They do not have the same kind of status and authority. But they are important tools for those who teach about Jesus, the Gospel and the Bible in our churches.
This is the 1,700th anniversary of the most influential council in all of church history, the Council of Nicaea (325), which gave birth to a document that, in revised form, became the Nicene Creed. The Nicene Creed has shaped our doctrine of the Trinity. It has also given us language with which to teach others about the divinity of Jesus and the way of salvation. Needless to say, then, it’s pretty significant.
In this issue of our magazine, we celebrate the Nicene Creed and its importance. We also step back and evaluate the usefulness of creeds and confessions in Christian faith, practice and congregational ministry.
Church councils and creeds, of course, began in the Bible. Believers needed guidance from authorized teachers to keep in step with the Lord and His will. Gentile inclusion created new challenges for the family of God.
The apostles disagreed about the ways in which Gentiles should keep God’s law. They convened in Jerusalem c. 48-50, sought the Lord’s guidance, reached an agreement and sent a letter to Antioch conveying it: “It has seemed good to the Spirit and to us,” they explained. Their New Testament letters are full of like summaries of apostolic teaching.
This set an example for the Christians who came later. And by the fourth century, when the ancient Roman Empire legalized our faith, a host of new questions had arisen that required church leaders to summarize the Word of the Lord.
Our Nicene Creed was forged on a fourth-century anvil in the heat of controversy. Faulty understandings of the status of the Son of God arose in Alexandria (where an ascetic theologian named Arius promoted them), attracted theologians in the eastern Mediterranean and, in the early 320s, piqued the interest of officials all over the Roman world. These understandings were censured by the bishops of two councils, the Council of Nicaea (325) and that of Constantinople (381), the latter of which declared its firm, Trinitarian faith in what is now called the Nicene Creed. In response to the Arian view that Christ was created by and lesser than the Father, the drafters of this document declared (among other things), “We believe in . . . Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in being with the Father.”
The Nicene Creed, that is, defined Christ’s divinity for centuries to come and thus aided Christian teachers, preachers and evangelists by giving them a sure way to teach the Gospel message. Even Arius had championed the Scripture principle. What was needed was authoritative, orthodox teaching on how best to read the contested texts of Scripture.
The history of Christian witness and teaching is a god send. It has helped us in countless ways to hand down the faith once delivered to the saints. It has been a huge blessing to the Beeson community. Let’s thank God for it and use it as we make more disciples.
Dean Douglas A. Sweeney
Douglas A. Sweeney
From the Editor
For those of you who have children, you likely have encountered what I’m starting to experience as the father of a soon-to-be 5 year old.
My daughter has, thanks be to God, taken a liking to her Sunday school classes and learning Bible stories at her Christian school. She also enjoys hearing my wife and me read Bible stories to her each night before bed.
As she’s growing older, she’s beginning to ask questions, beginning to wrestle with the truths she hears expressed by those around her. That’s led to some interesting conversations. If you’ve never tried to explain the Trinity or how Jesus is both God and man to a preschooler, I highly recommend it. If you’re anything like me, your efforts will certainly help you remain humble as you realize how much you need the Holy Spirit to help you raise your children.
Regardless of how difficult it is, we have these conversations with our children because we understand the eternal importance of what we believe, as well as knowing how to articulate those truths, both to ourselves and to others, as we follow the example of our Lord.
At Beeson, we are people of truth—not just any truth that the world around us would proclaim, but the truth expressed in the “faith that was once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 1:3). The Christian church has a strong and rich history of communicating what we believe for the present age and for ages to come.
In keeping with that tradition, this year’s magazine is centered on the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea and the legacy of the Nicene Creed and other creeds and confessions that have united and edified the church throughout the centuries.
In this year’s issue, you’ll find an article on Nicaea by Beeson professor Stefana Dan Laing, who will be traveling to the sites of
“If you've never tried to explain the Trinity or how Jesus is both God and man to a preschooler, I highly recommend it. If you are like me, your efforts will certainly help you remain humble as you realize how much you need the Holy Sprit to help you raise your children.”
several early church councils this summer. She shares with us how the Council of Nicaea continues to help the church address theological issues and remain faithful and resolute despite shifting cultural winds.
You'll also read about a discussion between Dean Douglas A. Sweeney, faculty members Gerald Bray and Mark Gignilliat, and founding dean Timothy George, as they discuss what role creeds and confessions have had throughout the years, how we can learn from them and more.
As always, this year’s magazine will include notes about forthcoming faculty books, updates from Beeson alumni and news from the past year at Beeson. We celebrated the retirement of director of operations and Lay Academy director, Jim Pounds, and we welcomed Vaughan Roberts, Sandra Richter and Mohammad Sanavi to campus for our spring lectures.
Finally, this year’s magazine looks back on two exciting announcements we made earlier this year: the upcoming launch of our apologetics concentration next January, and the life-changing gift from a generous and anonymous donor that will provide full-tuition scholarships to many Beeson students.
May the Lord bless you and your families, and may you enjoy reading this year’s Beeson magazine.D
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Commemorating Nicaea at 1,700
By Stefana Dan Laing
While many may be familiar with the Nicene Creed, recited weekly by millions of Christians worldwide, fewer may know the story of the creed by which we confess our faith. The entire Nicaea “event” emerged out of a kairos moment, or better, a kairos season, involving multiple providential crossroads. The Roman Empire and its new emperor, Constantine, were at a critical political and religious crossroads, as for the first time a Roman emperor was invested in the church’s success rather than its demise. The church’s leadership was at an ecclesial and doctrinal crossroads, as it faced the challenge of the theological crisis posed by Arianism in ways that were both new and traditional. Because of the favorable
winds now filling its sails, the church was able for the first time to respond ecumenically, with representatives from East and West, setting forth a creed based on the Scriptures, baptismal confessions and the Rule of Faith. These elements had always been the church’s catechetical tools for teaching and assessing doctrine and for Christian formation.
In subsequent decades, the church pursued the acceptance and wider implementation of a revised and expanded Nicene creed—ratified and finalized at Constantinople in 381—to teach and promote correct doctrine in Christian communities, from the point of one’s initiation in baptism and forward.
Emperor and Empire
The Roman Empire spanned the Mediterranean basin, from Spain and Britain in the west, to Israel and Syria in the east. Since Augustus’ reign, the far-flung empire was held together by travel networks, infrastructure, military troops to enforce Roman law (and keep barbarians out) and religion. Augustus had declared himself the chief priest (Pontifex Maximus) of the empire and a benevolent intercessory figure, styling himself “Father of his Country” (Pater Patriae). The cult of the emperor and Dea Roma was a kind of civil religion in which one venerated the emperor and representative statues of himself and Rome by offering prayers and incense, demonstrating loyal citizenship. This cultic veneration (though a formality) constituted idolatry for Christians, who preferred suffering and death rather than violating their loyalty to Christ.
Persecution mainly happened on a local level, but several times it was statesponsored and empire-wide. Between 298-302, a repression targeted Christians in the army. Then in 303, a series of laws more broadly targeted Christians, church buildings, sacred scriptures and clergy— mainly bishops. This repression lasted until 311, offering only the briefest respite and a temporary toleration. But persecution resumed the following year, mainly in Egypt, Palestine and Syria. Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea in Palestine, offers shocking eyewitness testimony. Christians were mercilessly butchered, drawn and quartered, covered in burning pitch, flogged, racked and scraped with sharp shells. They were beheaded, thrown to lions, bears, panthers and bulls, burned at the stake and crucified, bearing witness as those of whom “the world was not worthy” (Heb
11:38). Eusebius testified that this slaughter continued “not for a few days or weeks, but year after year.” Sometimes bishops were maimed rather than executed, but the ongoing horror seemed excessive and tiresome, even to pagans.
During this persecution, Constantine was growing up in various cities across the empire, rising through military ranks, sometimes helping his father in Britain (where persecution was minimal or unenforced). Upon his father’s death in 306, Constantine’s troops in Britain hailed him as Augustus, and in 312 after the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in Rome, he became sole ruler of the West. Before that pivotal victory, he had a vision of a cross in the heavens, and saw a sign or heard a voice saying, “in this conquer.” Deeply impacted, Constantine declared himself a follower of this God who could help him win; and since he did conquer, that symbol in the sky (the ChiRho) became his emblem, and he adhered to this Christian God, eventually drawing up new laws favoring Christians and revoking the old laws. Importantly, in 312, he drew up an “Edict of Toleration,” granting freedom of worship to all. In subsequent years, Constantine overcame two more imperial rivals, including his own brother-in-law, Licinius, a persecutor. By 324, he was sole emperor, and the church’s affairs now required his attention.
Ecclesial and Theological Crossroads
The Nicaea event is about more than a conference of bishops convening to establish correct doctrine and subsequently enforce it. It is about a providential opportunity for the church ecumenically to name, define and repudiate a heresy about God the Son and God’s saving work through
Him. Examining the Scriptures together, the Nicene Council leveraged the work of prior generations of faithful theologians, preachers and teachers to answer the needs of the moment. They also celebrated together the goodness of God in ending persecution.
Arius was an Egyptian presbyter, ordained in 311 or 312, the pivotal historical window in which his bishop Peter was martyred, Constantine was converted, the Edict of Milan was promulgated and a great schism got underway in the North African church resulting from the fall-out of the Great Persecution.
Around 318, a controversy broke out when Arius opposed the Christological teaching of Alexandria’s subsequent bishop, Alexander. In a letter to his friend and supporter, bishop Eusebius of Nicomedia, Arius explains these objectionable teachings. In his view, by using phrases like “always God, always Son,” Alexander taught that God the Father and Christ the Son are in every way the same in terms of being eternal and co-equal and without beginning. But Arius believed that the Father alone is self-existing and completely eternal, and that the Son did have a beginning—when He was begotten by the Father. To Arius, this distinction between the eternal Father and the Son who came later preserves monotheism and protects the unique supremacy of God the Father. Additionally, Alexander’s teaching that “the Son is from God Himself” threatened the unity of God’s divine nature (i.e., the idea that God exists somehow in parts). In Arian math, two divine beings of the same substance, equally eternal and co-existent, equaled two gods.
Arius taught that only God the Father is uniquely God—all else is contingent and derivative. God the Father created the Son
Credimus in unum Deum, Patrem omnipoténtem, factórem cæli et terræ, visíbilium ómnium et invisíbilium
out of nothing, like other creatures, yet the Son is the most perfect and glorious creature and the agent through which God created all else. Arius’ characteristic catch phrase, “before He was begotten, He was not,” encapsulates these ideas. The Son was begotten (meaning “created”) and established by the Father’s divine will, not of the Father’s own nature or substance, and before He was begotten/created, the Son did not exist. In other words, Arius denied the eternal deity (though not divinity) of the Son and placed the Son below the Creator/ creature divide. He believed that the Son was called “God” as a courtesy title, but the name was not His by nature.
The Church’s Response: The Council of Nicaea 325
Alexander disciplined Arius and stripped him of his position, but Arian ideas spread and gained supporters even outside of Egypt. In 324, Alexander wrote to a fellow bishop, countering Arius’ ideas with Scripture and laying out his position in a creedal form, which was then reciprocally subscribed to by a group of bishops who met together in early 325 in Antioch to try to resolve the issue. Meanwhile, the emperor was apprised of the conflict and grew concerned about the church's disunity. Anticipating a possible schism, he urged Alexander and Arius to reconcile. In fact, this doctrinal and ecclesiastical issue was not Constantine’s first such challenge. He had already heard (and failed to resolve) two issues that caused schisms in the Egyptian and North African churches (Melitian and Donatist schisms). Despite the earlier meeting of 325 to clarify Christological orthodoxy, Constantine wanted to meet with all the bishops himself, and therefore called a council for later in the year. The venue was relocated from Ankyra to Nicaea, and on May 20, 325, the Council of Nicaea opened.
The council was convened by Hosius of Cordoba, the emperor’s trusted representative. Traditional sources claim the attendance of 318 bishops (plus their retinues), while others claim 270 or approximately 300. The Roman bishop was absent, so two presbyters represented him. Signs of recent persecution and its torture methods marked many attendees, leading later bishop-historian Theodoret of Cyrus to remark that the gathering was like an “army of martyrs.” Paul, bishop of Neo-Caesarea under Licinius, had lost the use of both hands, as the nerves had been desensitized by the application of hot irons. Some had their right eye gouged out; others—like Paphnutius—had their left leg crippled from its socket. Having subsidized all attendees’ travel, accommodations and hospitality needs, the emperor arrived on June 14. The bishops assembled in the “great hall” of an imperial palace/residence, and the
emperor entered last, sitting on a low seat after requesting the bishops’ permission to be seated. Welcome speeches were offered by Eusebius of Nicomedia (proArian) and Eustathius of Antioch (antiArian). Constantine, deeply moved by the presence of bishops who had visibly suffered, also gave a speech— an exhortation to unity in view of the cessation of persecution. Through his efforts, he said, God had brought freedom to the church, and how tragic that as the persecutors are gone, Christians would now attack one another!
No minutes ( acta ) have been preserved for this extraordinary council, but its events may be approximated by examining episcopal correspondence. An Arian faction presented a written statement of its position, probably drafted by Eusebius of Nicomedia. Its heresy was manifest, and before it had been completely read aloud, an uproar broke out among the assembly and the document was snatched up and torn to bits. Over several days, the council crafted a creedal statement, on the model of a Rule of Faith, focused on clarifying the question of the Son’s status relative to the Father. Eusebius of Caesarea indicated that each phrase of the creed was carefully discussed, and he accepted its wording “not without examination.”
Nicaea’s Creed
All the bishops prioritized the Scriptural consistency of the creed and were sensitive to non-Scriptural terminology. On this score, the word homoousios (“of the same essence”) proved a sticking point for a number of bishops, but especially for the Arians. Constantine certainly championed this term, but was not its originator: Bishop Hosius more than likely suggested it. After several days of biblical discussions and theological deliberations, on June 19, 325,
We believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things seen and unseen.
the council set forth a creedal statement clearly repudiating Arianism and the creaturely status of the eternal Son. The Arian bishops were afraid of losing their bishoprics, so one by one (with only two hold-outs) they signed the final statement.
Looking back on the council, Eustathius indicated that the Arian bishops (even those who signed in the end) only pretended to agree with the creed, proven by their subsequent continued adherence to Arian tenets. Athanasius, having attended with Alexander as his deacon, affirms Eustathius’s characterization, explaining further that as the creedal phrases were read aloud one by one in the assembly, closely examining the wording, the Arians, with nods and winks to one another, indicated the dual meanings of each word as terms they could accept. The language was sufficiently malleable and could support their interpretation of the Son as a creature less than God, made ex nihilo by the Father. The addition into the creed of the words, “from the substance of the Father” and “of one/same substance ( homoousios ) with the Father,” affirmed the Son’s deity as a sharer directly of the Father’s nature, unlike any creatures. When homoousios was added, the Arians protested the term’s unbiblical origin, but Athanasius countered that their objections belied their real agenda, since the term could not be reconciled with their Christology. Furthermore, their protest rang hollow, since their own catchphrases were also unscriptural as well as doctrinally unsound.
Once the doctrinal issue was settled, additional conciliar discussions involved establishing the date of Easter, resolving the Melitian schism and celebrating Constantine’s 20th anniversary in imperial capacity. By July 30, 325, Constantine had left, and the council adjourned by Aug. 25.
The Legacy of Nicaea
What does the Nicene Creed say/mean, and how does it respond to Arianism?
Nicaea 325 clearly affirms monotheism: There is only one God. Jesus is the only begotten Son of God, and not a creature but actually God, sharing the essence of God. He is from God and with God, a distinct divine Person, not a created being different in nature from the Father. The Son is the agent of creation and of salvation, which is effected for us through the Son’s incarnation, death and resurrection. The Son ascended to His eternal glory with the Father and will return. Finally, Nicaea affirms belief in the Holy Spirit. To be abundantly clear on Christology, the council officially cursed any talk of the Son being less than God or a created being, inferior to God.
Athanasius succeeded bishop Alexander in 326 and continued struggling against
Arianism late into the fourth century. His own legacy was confirmed at the ratification of the expanded creed at Constantinople in 381, the Nicene Creed Christians recite today. Some of Athanasius’ most incisive points express Arianism’s consequences for our salvation and eternal life: No creature can save another creature, only God can fully and truly save. If Christ is not fully God, then we are not saved. The message of the Gospel is that God, in Christ, reconciled the world to Himself, and this was possible because Christ was the eternal Word made flesh (Jn 1:14, 18), who was indwelt bodily by the fullness of the godhead (Col 1, 2).
The creed of Nicaea stands as a powerful statement against any heterodox explanations of the Son as a lesser god, a track that leads only to tritheism or accusations of idolatry, questioning Jesus’ claims to deity and His self-affirmations of oneness with the Father and the Spirit. Thus, it has endured these 1,700 years, serving the church in several ways: affirming sound doctrine as a public, oral witness; catechizing baptismal candidates, who memorized, studied and “gave back” the creed before baptism; and providing a rubric for assessing all other teaching on the doctrine of God. Not everyone owned Bibles, but they did have this pattern of sound teaching received at baptism. Finally, the creed serves today as a unifying doctrinal baseline marker for all Christians who believe the Bible’s teaching about Christ, even across denominations.D
Stefana Dan Laing is an associate professor of divinity and theological librarian. She teaches in the area of spiritual formation and her primary area of research is in patristics.
and
Confessions Creeds
In March, Dean Douglas A. Sweeney invited founding dean Timothy George and professors Gerald Bray and Mark Gignilliat to his office for a discussion on the history, importance and role of creeds and confessions in the church. This story summarizes that conversation.
In the early days of the Christian church , it was not uncommon to hear new believers affirm their faith with the Latin word, credo . At their baptism, new believers would be asked, “Do you believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God?”
They would reply, credo , which means “I believe.” These statements of faith, which most often accompanied the act of baptism, marked a new believer’s confession of faith, grounding them in the truth of God’s Word.
“It was a confession of faith, a personal faith in Jesus Christ,” said Timothy George.
Over time, these statements became part of the life of the entire church body, and there was a notable change. “The singular ‘I believe’ became the plural, ‘We believe,’” said Gerald Bray.
These early statements of Christian faith laid the foundation for later creeds and confessions which addressed heresies,
organized Christian doctrine and served to unite Christians worldwide.
Though, creeds such as the Apostles’ Creed and Nicene Creed were not fixed forms for some time. They were revisited by church councils as they sought to formalize and organize the teachings of the New Testament. “For example, what we call the Apostles’ Creed wasn't produced in its current form, the modern form, until the eighth century,” Bray said. “What we call the Nicene Creed today was not the creed of the First Council of Nicaea, but it has come to be known as that because it was meant to convey the faith of Nicaea. The Apostles’ Creed wasn’t written by the apostles, but it was meant to convey their faith.”
George elaborated. “All of the creeds we have been talking about have gone through various stages and changes, including the Nicene Creed, so creeds
They would reply, credo,
GEORGE
can be changed. They can appeal to the Scriptures as we look at the wording of creeds and how they speak to particular situations, but they are always accountable to the authority of the Holy Scriptures.”
While some might quip, “No creed but the Bible,” Bray said those who wrote the creeds were careful to ensure that the teaching written down by the church was only that of the New Testament.
“Those who composed and who authorized these things were very careful to make sure that the teaching they gave was based on the New Testament,” Bray said. “The reason for this is they were living in a culture where books were very expensive, and Christianity is a faith based on a book—but a book that most people couldn’t afford. So, what do you do? You produce a kind of résumé, a shortened form that can be memorized.”
While it is true and good to say Christians put no “humanly constructed statement, confession or creed above
the Bible,” George said, the Protestant commitment to Sola Scriptura ought not become a commitment to Nuda Scriptura, or naked Scripture, without understanding the important role of the Holy Spirit.
“We do not put a creed up on a pedestal as though it can never be touched, unchanged and is irrevocable,” he continued. “We don’t say that of any of the creeds, because we subject them all to the written authority of God’s Holy Word in Scripture. Creeds and confessions are not the Bible. We do not claim them to be the infallible, inerrant Word of God. They are summaries of Scripture. They are ways in which Scripture can be explicated and
which means “I believe.”
given to God’s people—to strengthen them in their walk with Christ.”
George elaborated on the Bible’s own affirmation of creeds. “I think it's helpful to think about how the New Testament itself refers to the creeds in at least three different ways,” he said.
“First, there is the faith, or the faith once for all delivered to the saints as we read in Jude 3. It's singular. It's unique. And then there is my faith, because each of us must have our own personal faith in Jesus Christ. And so, my faith is an expression of the faith. And then there's the church's faith. The creeds, the confessions, they are all expressions of
SWEENEY
GIGNILLIAT
BRAY
the church's faith in different ways and different times, reflecting the context in which they emerge. But they all are connected, interrelated, co-inherent,” he said. “They’re saying the same thing in different ways, for different purposes, at different times.”
“There is the faith once for all delivered to the saints, the deposit of faith. There is my faith by which I enter into the life of Christ, expressed through baptism. And there’s the church’s faith, which involves the whole community of faith coming together—sometimes in council and sometimes in congregations,” George said. “And let’s not forget the martyrs who also bore witness to the faith through their life and witness until death.”
One benefit of creeds and confessions is they create protective barriers for reading the Bible, preventing believers from projecting a God of their own making, Mark Gignilliat explained.
“These creeds… their function at the end of the day was to help us understand the nature of the God of Israel, who we worship—number one—but also to provide guardrails for the reading of the Bible,” he said.
Gignilliat goes on to explain that creeds did more defensive work than offensive work. “The defensive work was to make sure that we were on the right interpretive highway and not getting off that,” he said. “The offensive work was the engagement of the Bible in its totality. These early expressions of our faith that are in the creeds are ‘exhibit A’ of the church fathers seeking to do attendance to the totality of the biblical witness.”
We learn from the history of Israel and from the nature of our own fallen
hearts that left to our own devices, we will project a God of our own making, he said. “From a constructive and spiritually formative standpoint, what the creeds are doing are helping us avoid idolatry,” Gignilliat said.
Creeds and confessions also serve to connect Christians to their ancestors in the faith, George said. Confessional Christians have a sense of “intentional accountability” to God's work throughout history.
“The Christian faith did not start with me or you. It’s something God has been doing all along. A confessional Christian is one who senses some accountability to
what happened with Athanasius. What happened at Nicaea, Constantinople… that’s my story, too. And I can’t understand myself or my church or my community of faith without reference to that,” he said.
“It’s not that we’re lone ranger Christians experiencing God all on our own,” George said. “It’s the story across time and across centuries. A confessional Christian has a sense of “intentional accountability” throughout history.” D
“These creeds...their function at the end of the day was to help us understand the nature of the God of Israel.”
—Mark Gignilliat
Dean Douglas A. Sweeney (seated) with (left to right) founding dean Timothy George and professors Mark Gignilliat and Gerald Bray
FACULTY BOOKSHELF 2025
Paul: Apostle of Grace Frank Thielman (March 2025, Eerdmans)
Reading the Old Testament as Christian Scripture: A Literary, Canonical, and Theological Survey
Mark Gignilliat (with Heath A. Thomas) (March 2025, Baker Academic)
A History of Christian Theology: A Trinitarian Approach
Gerald Bray (October 2025, Crossway)
An Invitation to Holy Scripture: The Well that Washes What it Shows
Jonathan Linebaugh (August 2025, Eerdmans)
Exegetical Journeys: 90 Days of Guided Reading
Chip Hardy (March 2025, Baker Academic)
The Freedom of Christian Theology: New Studies in Dialogue with Eberhard Jüngel (Studies in Dialectical Theology)
Piotr Malysz (with Dave Nelson, MDiv '04) (February 2025, Fortress Academic)
CSB Women's Study Bible, General Editor
Stefana Dan Laing (August 2025, B&H Academic/ Bibles and Reference)
Christianity Today Book of the Year in Biblical Studies
The New Testament in Color: A Multiethnic Bible Commentary
Edited by: Osvaldo Padilla, Esau McCaulley, Janette Ok and Amy Peeler (August 2024, IVP Academic)
Beeson Difference The
Local pastors talk about the benefits of a Beeson education
With eight graduates and one student on staff, it’s safe to say that Redeemer Community Church, a non-denominational, reformed church in the Avondale neighborhood of Birmingham, has been heavily shaped by Beeson Divinity School. Lead pastor Joel Brooks, MDiv ’99, said he sees the school’s influence on each of them.
“It's always safe to assume that a Beeson graduate has a high view of Scripture. While this doesn’t always mean we will agree on some of the more peripheral doctrinal issues, it does mean we will both appeal to Scripture and not to our culture as our guide. Augustine said, ‘In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity.’ And a Beeson grad would add, ‘In all things, biblical.’”
Redeemer is one of many Birminghamarea churches led, at least in part, by Beeson graduates. It carries with it the same interdenominational spirit found at Beeson. Serving at Redeemer has reinforced the need to be able to minister to believers from different denominations, something Beeson instilled during their seminary careers, explained Josh Hausen, MDiv '13, executive pastor at the church.
Cole Shiflet, MDiv ’25, serves as Redeemer’s global missions director, and said Beeson forms graduates who have both
conviction and charity. “Beeson students leave more charitable than they were when they arrived,” he said. “The rigor of the education combined with classical, inperson education leads to greater humility.”
Because of the plethora of Beeson graduates serving Birmingham-area churches, this network of alumni has created more of a fellowship within those church networks and strengthens the city spiritually as a whole, Hausen said.
Redeemer also feels Samford’s influence through the large number of students who attend each week, participating in college ministries and volunteering in others.
Molly Grace Cortez, who just finished her second year at Beeson, serves Redeemer as the youth ministry coordinator, and sees the impact of Samford students befriending and supporting the church’s youth. Cortez is working toward a joint Master of Arts in Theological Studies and Master of Social Work with Samford’s School of Public Health.
As she studies, Cortez said she’s benefited from being around the alumni on staff, as they benefit from having her. “There’s a certain
level of trust I’ve been given by going to Beeson,” Cortez said. “Grace is given with schoolwork. I feel like I’ve been able to be guided well, and it’s helped contextualize what I’m learning.”
Mountain Brook Community Church (MBCC) in Mountain Brook and Iron City Church in the Five Points South neighborhood of Birmingham are two other local non-denominational churches with multiple Beeson graduates and students on staff.
Ben Telfair ’10, MDiv ’13, DMin ’21, serves as the executive pastor at MBCC. With
a commonality amongst the team, he said. “Being Beeson graduates gives us a common vision. There’s similarity in the way we all think because we went to Beeson.”
Chris Morgan, MDiv ’20, the discipleship pastor at MBCC, said, “I can trust a Beeson graduate to think deeply about certain things, to not be dogmatic and rigid in their perspective. I can trust they’re going to work hard… and do their job with excellence,” he said. “I can trust they haven’t been able to skirt the difficulty of academic excellence.”
Besides being equipped with a
Telfair also said Beeson graduates understand the importance of community, coming from an in-person, communal seminary.
Kyle Schumpert, MDiv ’23, serves as the middle school pastor at MBCC and said as a student at Beeson there were days he needed to be ministered to by professors and students from different backgrounds. “We still have access to that in a way at MBCC,” Schumpert said. “Fellow Beeson pastors, they have appreciation for that interdenominational education, which is helpful at a non-denominational church.”
Agreeing with Schumpert, Seth Locke, MDiv ’22, said Beeson’s interdenominational approach helps him as MBCC’s college pastor as students come from a variety of denominational backgrounds.
Salvador Blanco-Perello, MDiv ’25, is the pastoral assistant at Iron City, and said working alongside fellow Beeson alumni brings a certain kind of trust. “I know I will meet someone who loves the Bible, thinks deeply about it and respects the tradition of the faith handed down to
Beeson’s commitment to in-person learning has helped Blanco-Perello commit to being where he is, and the school’s weekly chapel services helped him as he serves the church as a worship leader. “Beeson pushes students to take what they’re taught in the classroom and apply it in the church,” he said. “The various traditions in weekly worship have also shaped what elements I may
include when I write orders of service in other contexts.”
At Iron City, Blanco-Perello reports to Dustin Ratcliff, MDiv ’17, who serves as staff pastor.
“Salvador is an incredible gift to our church,” Ratcliff said. “I have seen him grow, thrive and mature at Beeson. He has a pastor’s heart and is deeply thoughtful. Beeson has provided him a place to be engaged, sharpened and challenged.”
Beeson is a place like no other, preparing graduates and future ministers with excellence, Ratcliff said, making it a special place for anyone considering pursuing seminary. “There is no other place that provides a community of faith that is centered around seeing preachers and pastors grow in their love and faithfulness to the Lord while engaging in rigorous, world class academic studies that focus on the historical creeds and doctrines of the faith,” Ratcliff said. “The theology you learn is practiced, lived, honed and embodied in deep relationship with your fellow students that will serve as co-laborers in Christ’s church for years to come.” D
L to R: Josh Hausen, Joseph Rhea, Jeff Heine, Connor Coskery, Joel Brooks and Molly Grace Cortez at Redeemer Community Church
(Alumni not pictured include Ford Galin, Chase Able and Cole Shiflet)
L to R: Kyle Schumpert, Chris Morgan, Seth Locke and Ben Telfair at Mountain Brook Community Church
Iron City Church pastor Dustin Ratcliff, left, talks with pastoral assistant Salvador Blanco-Perello
Britton Johnson shares joint degree journey
Shooting2
After the pandemic, Britton Johnson, like all NCAA student-athletes, was granted an extra year of eligibility due to COVID-19’s impact on college athletics. With his fifth year of eligibility, Johnson, who formerly played basketball for the University of Alabama, transferred to Samford University in 2022.
“I was interested in going somewhere I could potentially earn more playing time, so transferring to Samford just felt like the perfect conclusion to my basketball career,” he said.
Shortly before beginning college, Johnson said he developed a love for reading the Word of God. “This led to exponential growth in my faith and a deepened understanding of the love and character of God throughout my time in college,” he said.
Johnson began reading and studying theology, as well as exploring creative writing. People in his life, like Arnie Guin and Scotty Hollins in the Alabama basketball program, mentored him and help him grow in his faith. After transferring to Samford, Johnson learned of the opportunity to earn a Master of Arts in Theological Studies (MATS) at Beeson Divinity School and reached out to the admission team.
“Over the next few weeks, the Lord opened doors and directed my steps in such a way that it seemed entirely unmistakable that He was leading me to Beeson,” Johnson said. “Though I initially came to Samford for basketball, looking back, it is so clear that He used
“ The Lord opened doors and directed my steps in such a way that it seemed entirely unmistakable that He was leading me to Beeson. ”
— Britton Johnson
that to ultimately bring me to Beeson and bless me in more ways than I could imagine.”
In addition to his theological pursuits, Johnson wanted to attend law school. Johnson was admitted to Samford’s Cumberland School of Law and was able to fuse his legal and theological studies. He began working on a joint degree in fall 2024.
While the two areas of studies are fundamentally different in a number of ways, there’s also some overlap, especially in the amount of reading and writing in both programs. “I believe that theological studies, while ultimately hinging on faith, also depend on and are strengthened by an ability to think logically,” Johnson said.
While the law may not seem to be innately Christian practice, it “finds its roots in a belief in God and the objective morality and truth that flows from that,” he said.
While pursuing both degrees is a challenge, it’s more of a blessing, he said. “I recognize how fortunate I am to be in this position and to be able to study both at the same time,” Johnson said. “I find my MATS studies to be a great reprieve from my legal studies and an amazing opportunity to grow in my faith. I also believe that doing seminary has helped me become a better law student, and vice versa.”
After graduation, Johnson plans to become an attorney while discerning how to use his seminary training to serve the Lord. D
Tennent Arrives at Beeson
When Timothy Tennent visited Samford’s Beeson Divinity School to deliver lectures for World Christianity Focus Week in April 2024, he wasn’t thinking about staying longer than a few days. “I had not thought about coming here. I was actually on my way somewhere else and in pretty serious conversations with another school,” Tennent said.
But a conversation with Dean Douglas A. Sweeney set him on a course that brought him to Birmingham earlier this year. Sweeney told Tennent that one of his goals when he arrived at Beeson in 2019 was to “introduce Beeson to world Christianity,” Tennent recalled.
“When you said that to me, it really struck me,” Tennent told the dean on a recent episode of the Beeson podcast. “I went back and looked at your inaugural address and indeed, you had said that. It was something that really was in your heart…. I think that was a real determinative thing for me to realize God was calling us here.”
At the time, Tennent was serving as president of Asbury Theological Seminary in Kentucky, a position he held for 15 years. As the year went on, Tennent met with Beeson leadership, and last summer, Beeson officially named him the new Methodist Chair of Divinity. Tennent began his work this past January.
“I have long admired the grand historic and interdenominational vision of Beeson Divinity School,” Tennent said when he was hired. “I have loved Beeson’s commitment to mentoring students. So, I am delighted that I can now help strengthen the mission of Beeson.”
Tennent comes to Beeson at an “unparalleled moment in the history of the Wesleyan movement” and hopes to broaden and strengthen Beeson’s Wesleyan certificate program. “The emergence of the Global Methodist Church has the opportunity to renew and refresh the Wesleyan movement in many new ways. I am well connected throughout the Wesleyan world, and I hope to use those connections to strengthen the ties of Beeson to the larger Wesleyan world.”
Tennent is teaching courses dealing with the Wesleyan movement and believes the Wesleyan world has much to offer the wider church “in terms of our understanding of grace, sanctification, holiness and discipleship.”
“I think Beeson would be a wonderful place for Wesleyans to study, and we hope and pray we can make good partnerships throughout the region,” he said. Tennent is also an expert in world Christianity and missions and hopes to filter that knowledge down into churches through his teaching at Beeson. D
“I think Beeson would be a wonderful place for Wesleyans to study, and we hope and pray we can make good partnerships throughout the region.”
— Timothy Tennent
Pounds Retires after
After 25 years of service to Samford’s Beeson Divinity School, Jim Pounds retired at the end of June. Pounds first came to the school as a student in 1997, following careers first in aerospace engineering and then in insurance in Vestavia Hills. “I thought it’d be interesting to go to seminary,” he said.
In 1997, Pounds enrolled at Beeson and earned a Master of Divinity in 2000. “Coming back to school at 36 years old for a divinity degree—with a very technical background… it was a new kind of writing,” Pounds said.
Pounds said learning from professors such as Frank Thielman, Robert Smith Jr. and Ken Mathews was a joy. After graduating, Pounds went to work at Beeson, hired by founding dean Timothy George. In 2013, Pounds took on the role of director of operations.
Pounds’ duties at Beeson were numerous, including the oversight of the school’s budget and finances, managing facility maintenance, supervising renovations and improvements, managing Hodges Chapel, serving as the point of contact for the school’s HR and payroll functions and participating in the admission and scholarship process.
“My gifts are in business decisionmaking and analysis. The school needs at least one person to sit in this role to support the dean and other leaders,” Pounds said. “If I can use my primary gifting to help the dean and the rest of the faculty not have to worry about nonacademic tasks, then I’ve made a small contribution to what the mission of the school is about.”
In addition to his role as director of operations, Pounds also founded and directed the school’s Lay Academy of Theology, which offers courses to the general public, covering a wide array of theological topics, all taught by Beeson professors.
“It’s been a lot of fun,” Pounds said. “It’s gotten Beeson Divinity School in front of people who didn’t see a way to connect with us.”
Years after graduating, Pounds said he can still reach out to faculty for questions if he’s preparing to preach. “Faculty remain available to their students after they’re gone,” Pounds said. “That is the part of the Beeson education you can’t put a price on.”
Beeson has “always been a great place to work,”
“If I can use my primary gifting to help the dean and the rest of the faculty not have to worry about non-academic tasks, then I’ve made a small contribution to what the mission of the school is about.”
— Jim Pounds
Pounds said. “It is an opportunity to work with other folks who know their gifts and are serious about applying them to further the mission of the school.
25 Years of Service
When we all take on what it is we’re great at or what it is we’re called to do, the mission gets advanced.”
In retirement, Pounds said he’ll work on some long-put-off chores and spend time with his grandchild, as well as travel with his wife, Debra.
“Jim Pounds was my student before he became my colleague, a dear friend I have known and cherished now for many years,” George said. “Through it all, I have found Jim to be a person of unquestioned integrity, loyalty, resilience, unwavering Christian commitment and good cheer. The contributions he has made to Beeson are too deep and abiding to put into words.”
Thielman, who, like George, knows Pounds as both student and staff member, said he will be missed greatly. “Jim has been an indispensable part of Beeson Divinity School for many years, working quietly behind the scenes to keep our operations running
smoothly,” Thielman said. “He is a humble servant of the Lord who has never wanted attention focused on himself, but who all of us have learned to appreciate for his gifts of friendship, accounting and engineering skills, wonderful sense of humor, commitment to Christ and willingness to interrupt his very busy days to help others.”
Dean Douglas A. Sweeney said Pounds is “one of the most loyal people I have ever known.”
“Beeson has been blessed by his loyal service to us for almost 25 years,” Sweeney said. “I have relied on him heavily for help with the physical plant and budget, in particular. Jim has also done marvelous work with our Lay Academy program. We will miss him and his faithful service in so many ways. We will miss his steady care for our faculty and staff. Most importantly of all, we will miss his steady witness to the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Pounds is a longtime friend of retired professor Robert Smith Jr. “I read
somewhere that a friend is someone who knows the song that is in your heart and can sing the song back to you when you have forgotten the words. Jim Pounds is that kind of friend,” Smith said. “He knows the song that’s in my heart, whether the song is played in the major chord of hope, happiness and harmony or the minor chord in doom, gloom and despair. He knows my heart. He knows my face. He knows my moods. He knows my temperament. He knows my disposition. He knows my mindset. He knows me. We have journeyed together for many years... I appreciate Jim for his authenticity, for his humor and for his wife Deb for the way she has accepted me into their family.” D
L to R: Gerald Bray, Robert Smith Jr., Jim Pounds and Douglas Sweeney gathered for Pounds' retirement celebration in April.
Learning toTrust
Beeson graduate testifies to God's faithfulness
In 2022, when Ashton Holt started at Samford’s Beeson Divinity School, the excitement she felt over her theological education was tinged with personal crisis. Holt’s father faced opposition in his ministry and was criticized publicly by those within the church, she said. It was a challenge for Holt as she was processing her own call to ministry. Thankfully, God used her time at Beeson to deepen her faith and to lead her to rely on Him. “At Beeson, I’ve learned to be a person of faith,” Holt said. “I’ve been learning to trust the Lord in a lot of hardship. I’m so much better for that.”
"At Beeson, I've learned to be a person of faith. I've been learning to trust the Lord in a lot of hardship. I'm so much better for that."
When she was in high school, Holt recognized her need for a sincere relationship with the Lord. She began developing a passion for God that led her to Samford as an undergraduate student. Initially studying psychology, she soon switched to Christian ministry, where the Lord met her.
— Ashton Holt
“That’s when my faith came into its own, studying the Bible in its fullness my freshman year,” Holt said. “I had so many pieces of it in my mind, but it all came together.”
Taking advantage of Samford’s fast-track Master of Divinity program with the Christian ministry program, Holt completed her studies in May, graduating with her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in six years instead of the typical minimum of seven years.
"God brought me to Beeson at a surprising time in my life through the fast-track program,” Holt said. “The greatest gift of coming to seminary a year early is the relationships I have developed in my mentor group. They have been a steadying presence in my life, and we have walked through the hardships of life together.”
While Holt grew academically in her understanding of how God rescues His children, her mentor group experience solidified that truth. “God continues to redeem His people,” Holt said. “I can say with total confidence and assurance that God brings life from the dead. He kills that He may make alive, and wounds that He may heal. My story has lent itself to that realization and that propels me to be a pastor.”
After graduation, Holt returned home to Jacksonville, Florida, where she now serves as a pastoral resident at Episcopal Church of Our Saviour.D
Graduate shares story of working and studying at Beeson StudyandService
Caleb Craft had his plan.
A native of Coal Grove, Ohio, Craft intended to pursue a PhD in education at The Ohio State University. His wife, Becca, a pediatric audiologist, was trying to find a job, which led both of them to search for backup options in case Columbus didn’t have a good job market.
Knowing he wanted to eventually enter ministry or a “church-adjacent” educational ministry, Craft started looking at Samford’s Beeson Divinity School. After visiting during a Preview Day event, Craft called his wife from the hotel. “We’ve got a problem, because I think this just became plan A,” Craft told her.
Craft knew if he was to go to seminary, he wanted to be somewhere that “took Jesus and the Bible seriously,” and had a rigorous curriculum. Beeson checked all of those boxes, and while he didn’t at first want to pursue another master’s degree, he realized how much he didn’t know about church history or the Bible. The Lord continued to increase his desire to work closely with and in the church, as Craft realized Beeson would train him to pursue his calling.
So, in fall 2020, the Crafts moved to Birmingham.
“Now, honestly, I thank God I didn’t go and do that PhD,” Craft said.
“I needed the education I got here.”
“It helps me as an adviser to have had the classes and the professors. To have had the classes they’ve had, to know what it’s like to be in the thick of Greek III…I’m at a place where I can look back and know, ‘Wow, all that work was worth it.’”
Craft’s father was a preacher in the United Methodist Church, while his mom was a teacher, so “both of those callings are in my bones,” he said. In summer 2021, Craft began working as a student employee for Beeson’s admission team, which turned into a full-time job as Beeson’s director of enrollment management and academic support that fall.
Craft and his wife welcomed their first child, daughter Lyla, in August 2024, and were helped and encouraged by Beeson’s supportive community as they navigated the early stages of parenthood.
Working at Beeson while earning a Master of Divinity allowed Craft to “be his whole self.”
When he graduated this April, Craft walked alongside the first cohort that began their studies under his guidance in 2022, which was special.
Craft said he still hopes to do pastoral work one day and will benefit from Beeson’s training, which has provided the tools to study and take the Bible seriously for the people of God. But for now, he continues in his role advising Beeson students. Graduating feels “surreal,” Craft said. “Coming up the steps every day and seeing the dome on Hodges Chapel, I would always say, ‘Thank you, God, that I get to go here.’ I still pray that, but I’ve shifted to, ‘I get to work here.’” D
Beeson Graduates Start Online Biblical Languages Classroom
An international teaching assignment led two Beeson alumni to launch a successful start-up business teaching the biblical languages of Greek and Hebrew.
Ryan Martin, MDiv ’15, is a current secondyear PhD student at Beeson and previously taught New Testament exegesis at a university in the Democratic Republic of Congo. While there, the university’s languages professor left, leaving Martin as the only person there to teach Greek. While hesitant at first, Martin realized he loved it and taught both at the university and in a missionary training center in a nearby city. When he came back home, and the world simultaneously shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Martin began offering similar classes online and began calling the business Kairos Greek.
Kairos—a Greek word that means time, in an intentional sense—took off with students joining via Facebook invitations.
“It just seemed like a very strange, but meaningful time to start an online school,” Martin said. “The Lord’s good timing is what brought this about and continues to direct it.”
As Martin continued working, Jesse Budraitis, a mutual friend, connected him to Courtney Trotter, MDiv ’17, who in July 2021 launched the Hebrew side of Kairos as Martin’s co-founder. At that time, they changed its name to Kairos Classroom, and Budraitis joined too, handling the business side of things.
A few years later, about 300 students have come through Kairos, which averages between 50 and 100 students at a time. Each class is capped at six students, with offerings in Hebrew, Greek, exegesis and “Koine Comeback,” intended for seminary graduates or others who have taken biblical
languages but forgotten them. Hebrew and Greek classes are intended for beginners, to help those who have never taken the biblical languages.
“Most of our students are laypeople,” Martin said. “We’re not a seminary competitor. Most of our students are people in the pews who just want to learn Greek or Hebrew for their own Bible study.”
Many attendees teach Sunday School or are lay leaders in the church. “It’s a very interdenominational context,” Martin said. “Our students come from a lot of different places. They care about the Bible and want to understand it better. There’s no such
thing as a stupid question. We see a really vulnerable and open side of people. They get to know each other and their teachers.”
Trotter said the size of the classes is intentionally small to foster the kind of community they both encountered at Beeson.
“When you learn the languages in community, and you have a teacher that’s cheering you on, it makes you more receptive,” Trotter said. “You start making connections that you don’t see in other places.”
Martin and Trotter both said they've learned from their students' insights and perspectives. Trotter has learned from students coming from an ecclesial context, which helps those coming from an academic background.
Martin and Trotter, with the help of fellow PhD student Taylor Brazil, developed their own Greek textbook for students. The textbook brings the newest information on the language to students and integrates with Kairos lessons. While it is currently selfpublished, they hope to work with a publisher later this year.
Kairos also offers primer courses for Beeson students about to begin Greek or Hebrew classes.
“It’s incredible to give back to Beeson,” Martin said. “So much of who we are as people is, I think, a trajectory that we started at Beeson. So much of our church tradition, the way we think about things, our values, were formed by this place. To get to step in and really help people with a real need really does feel good.” D
For more information on Kairos Classroom, visit kairosclassroom.com or visit their YouTube page, youtube.com/@kairosclassroom.
Courtney Trotter and Ryan Martin lead a Kairos Classroom session.
Photographing the Stars
Beeson alumnus takes camera to creation
After graduating from Samford’s Beeson Divinity School, Jason Rice, MDiv ’23, found he had a lot of energy, time and some extra money. It didn’t take him long to find something to do with it. “I had a camera for maybe a year before,” Rice said. “I took one Milky Way picture, sort of by happenstance, and it really intrigued me.”
A few months later, Rice bought more equipment specifically designed for widefield landscape astrophotography, which involves landscapes and scenery in wide shots of the stars and sky. “It’s been a really healthy hobby for me,” Rice said.
Rice said while most people are asleep when he’s taking his pictures, he’s been able to have Gospel-centered conversations with those he runs into. “It easily comes up when you’re already in awe of what’s in front of you, when you’re in awe of creation. Conversations about creation and about the Creator naturally come up,” Rice said.
Rice, who serves as senior pastor of Crossroad Baptist Church in Hueytown, Alabama, has a testimony of the Creator’s faithfulness and grace when he talks to people gathered under the stars.
Although he began his undergraduate studies, Rice dropped out because of his growing addiction to drugs and alcohol. For 10 years he battled addiction, was in and out of jail and rehabs and was unable to hold down a job.
New Orleans, Louisiana, for those struggling with addiction. After completing the rehabilitation program, nearby professors at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary encouraged him to finish his collegiate studies and get back on a path to ministry, one he first felt called to in high school.
“People around me reaffirmed the call. ‘God's call is still active in your life. Just because you got away from the path doesn't mean you can't come right back to Him,’” Rice said. “He rescued me out of that terrible pit of addiction. I didn’t want to do anything else except devote my life and ministry to God.”
In his ministry, Rice said he finds himself helping church members who have loved ones struggling with addiction, using what was a painful past to help others come to know the Lord and overcome their own addictions. “God never wastes a hurt,” Rice said. “Any kind of pain, any kind of suffering you go through, He can transform it and use it for His glory to help someone else. Only He can do that.”
Rice graduated from Leavell College, the undergraduate school at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, before coming to Beeson in fall 2020. While at Leavell, he met his wife, Dakota.
Beeson prepared Rice to sharpen his
God-given gifts of preaching and teaching the Bible, and how to serve well in his previous ministry position as worship leader at Bellview Baptist Church in McCalla, Alabama. “Beeson gave me the language of faith,” Rice said. “It gave me the ability to articulate the faith that I never had before.”
Being able to travel for his astrophotography has allowed Rice to see some “amazingly beautiful” places, he said, and has deepened his walk with the Lord.
“It’s definitely an incredible experience,” Rice said. “I’ve thought about, ‘What is beauty?’ I’m always thinking about the Gospel as it relates to night-sky photography. There are so many parallels: light and darkness, the beauty of the night sky, beauty that is inherent in the Gospel. The love of God is such a beautiful, mysterious thing. The vastness of space, the universe, reminds me of the vastness of God’s love.” D
In 2013, he went to Bethel Colony, a Christian transformation ministry based in
Alumnus of the Year Benefits from Beeson Education
Although he grew up in a religious home , Jeff Mooney was an atheist by the time he got to college. Done with Southern church culture, he surrounded himself with other nonbelievers while studying at Auburn University. “My world was going along fine until my friend Matt became a Christian,” Mooney said.
His friend’s conversion was “unnerving,” he said, and Mooney couldn’t chalk it up to cultural pressure or turning over a new leaf. He knew something had changed about his friend, and it scared him. Later, while traveling in New York, Mooney picked up a Bible and began to read. The Lord used His Word to bring Mooney to saving faith in Christ.
As his new life unfolded, Mooney found a job at the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, and at a conference, he met Wallace Williams, a former associate dean of community life at Beeson Divinity School. That conversation led Mooney to Beeson in 1993, just five years after the school opened its doors in 1988.
“It was the best place to be,” Mooney said of his decision to enroll at Beeson. “It’s where the top evangelicals were.”
“It means so much to be recognized by a place that meant so much to me.”
JEFF MOONEY
Mooney sat under faculty members like Timothy George, Gerald Bray, Ken Mathews and Frank Thielman, among others, and heard from renowned theologians such as D.A. Carson, John Stott, J.I. Packer and Alister McGrath. “It was a very exciting time to be there,” Mooney said. “You felt like you were at the epicenter of something. The teaching itself was formative.”
Bray said Mooney's natural joy and “infectious enthusiasm” encouraged him during Mooney’s time at Beeson. “He has always shared of himself in whatever he has been doing, and his example is a reminder to us all of how important a positive attitude is in building up community,” Bray said.
After graduating in 1996, Mooney earned a PhD in Old Testament Theology from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and pastored Redeemer Baptist Church in California. Mooney joined the faculty of California Baptist University in 2004 and was bivocational until he resigned his pastorate in 2022.
For his service to the Lord’s church and to Christian higher education, Mooney 2025 Beeson Alumnus of the Year Jeff Mooney with his family
was named Beeson’s Alumnus of the Year for 2025.
“Jeff Mooney is an ideal ambassador for Beeson,” Dean Douglas A. Sweeney said. “He’s a pastor and a professor, a people person and a scholar who has dedicated himself to Gospel ministry and serious Bible teaching for decades. He’s a fascinating person with a wide range of interests: jazz music, disability ministry, theology and more. It’s a joy and an honor to announce that he is this year’s alumnus of the year.”
Mooney said the award is gratifying and hopes it shows the professors and others who invested in him that their investment paid off. “It means so much to be recognized by a place that meant so much to me. It was enough that they opened up the Bible and church history for me. They gave me so much in ambition, focus and direction.” D
Beeson Receives Major Gift to Fund Full-Tuition Scholarships
Beeson Divinity School received a major gift from an anonymous donor to fund full-tuition Life Together scholarships for students starting in the 2025-26 academic year.
The new scholarships will be available to full-time master’s-level students, with priority given to Master of Divinity students who complete the scholarship essay along with their application. These merit-based scholarships will be awarded to top applicants beginning their studies this academic year.
The money will cover the full cost of tuition and fees for the recipients over three years of study at Beeson, the average amount of time needed to complete an MDiv.
“These Life Together scholarships are the best we’ve ever had,” said Dean Douglas A. Sweeney. “They’re intended for men and women called to faithful Gospel witness both at home and overseas. They make the Beeson difference affordable for more and more students.”
“Doing seminary right with us at Beeson is a big ask, but now it is possible for everyone who wants to be formed for Christian ministry in a tight-knit community of loving, evangelical and unapologetically theological faculty and students to do so,” Sweeney said. “Come and do life together with us. God will use your Beeson experience like nothing else you’ve known to equip and sustain you for a long life of ministry.”
This historic gift makes it easier for prospective students to move to the Birmingham area and commit to Beeson’s model of in-person theological education, which forms students in the classroom and in community. Refer a student today!
Apply by Sept. 1 to receive priority scholarship consideration for a spring semester start. D
News&Notes
“It’s not my authority. It’s the authority that comes from the Word of God.”
William E. Conger Preaching Lectures with Vaughan Roberts
In March, Beeson welcomed Vaughan Roberts, rector of St. Ebbe’s Church in Oxford, UK, for its annual Biblical Preaching Lectures. Preaching in chapel and delivering two lectures, as well as engaging in a lunch conversation with guests, Roberts encouraged attendees to remember what they have in Christ and to preach with authority as well as momentum. Preachers must not go first to the world, believing they have something to offer, Roberts said, but first to the Word of God. “ It’s not my authority. It’s the authority that comes from the Word of God, ” Roberts said. Preaching is hard work and is often used as a pejorative in this day and age, Roberts said. As such, preachers must be convinced that what they preach is the “ living and active ” Word of God, he said. In his second lecture, Roberts shared some of his process for developing a sermon. The Word of God has momentum, and the role of the preacher is not to explain static truths, but to facilitate the Word’s momentum, he said. D
New faces, speakers, events & more
WCFW speaker trains pastors, reaches Iran through Christian media
World Christianity Focus Week with Mohammad Sanavi
Mohammad Sanavi, MDiv '04, founder and teacher of the Bible Training Center for Persians, which provides theological training to Farsi-speaking pastors and church leaders, shared an update on the growth of Christianity in Iran and encouraged the community to persevere during World Christianity Focus Week. In a lunch lecture, Sanavi explored the growth of Christianity in Iran, questioning the numbers posted by other organizations. In recent publications, some have estimated there are 5 million Christians in Iran, with anticipated growth reaching 10 million by 2030. But much of that is guess work, Sanavi said. In reality, there are roughly 300,000 to 400,000 Christians in the country, though many have left in recent years, Sanavi said. Sanavi works to provide Christian teaching and other material through media that Iranians often access through VPNs and other means. This allows pastors to receive training whether inside or outside of the country, and provides opportunities to share the Gospel with nonbelievers. D
“Creation care is an expression of God's character.”
Biblical Studies Lectures with Sandra Richter
In April, Sandra Richter delivered the annual Biblical Studies Lectures, discussing the attitude of God toward women in the Old Testament and Christian environmentalism.
In her first lecture, Richter, who serves as the Robert H. Gundry Chair of Biblical Studies at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California, carefully looked at passages detailing the law in regard to women, showing how the Bible elevates and protects women. In her second lecture, Richter discussed whether a Christian can be an environmentalist, calling the issue “one of the most misunderstood topics of social justice and holiness within the Christian community today.” Creation care is an expression of God’s character, she said. In the Genesis creation account, God commands Adam and Eve to “tend” and “guard” creation. Sin has subjected the created order, as well as mankind, to futility, she reminded those in attendance.
To purchase Richter's Biblical Studies Lectures and other lectures, visit samford.edu/beeson-divinity/store. D
Vaughan Roberts
Mohammad Sanavi
Sandra Richter
This concentration is intended to go deeper than “mere arguments.”
New Apologetics Concentration Launches January 2026
During The Gospel Coalition conference, held in April, Beeson announced a new apologetics concentration, launching January 2026. The approach to apologetics in this concentration is intended to go deeper than “mere arguments,” said Joshua Chatraw, Beeson’s Billy Graham Chair of Evangelism and Cultural Engagement. “Apologetics is no longer a niche ministry that can be left to a few ‘experts.’ We find ourselves in confusing and quickly changing times. What was once assumed must now be defended. In teaching, discipleship, evangelism and counseling, ministers need to be prepared to commend the goodness, beauty and truth of the Gospel. This calls for a mature apologetic—theologically robust, historically aware, philosophically astute and pastorally sensitive.” The concentration will be available for Master of Divinity and Master of Arts in Theological Studies students. Students will take courses focusing on the theology and practice of evangelism, the history, practice and issues surrounding Christian apologetics, cultural apologetics and more. D
Serving Beeson is a "privilege," new development officer says
Development Officer Gary Fenton Retires, Beeson Welcomes Elliott Dansby to Role
Former Beeson development officer
Gary Fenton transitioned into a consultant’s role in fall 2024 after eight years of service to Samford and five years of service to Beeson. Fenton served as a consultant until the university hired Elliott Dansby in late 2024 to be the full-time development officer for the school. Fenton began working at Samford part time in January 2017 and transitioned to a Beeson focus in 2020. “I believe in Beeson. I believe in its mission. I believe in Dean Sweeney and the outstanding faculty he and Dr. George have established here,” Fenton said.
Dansby joins Beeson after serving for more than a decade in Samford's Office of Admission, fostering relationships across campus, the state of Alabama and throughout the country. Dansby said he “counts it a privilege learning and sharing the special story of Beeson's kingdom impact both on campus among current students and faculty and through its graduates ministering around the globe.” D
“Don't give up but persevere by the power and grace of God.”
Phil Ryken Encourages Graduates as Beeson Celebrates Spring Commencement
Twenty-two graduates received their degrees from Beeson Divinity School on May 2 during the spring service of commencement and consecration.
Phil Ryken, president of Wheaton College, delivered the commencement sermon, encouraging graduates to remember the “urgency of our Gospel task.”
Preaching from Matt 24:1-14, Ryken told graduates and others gathered in Hodges Chapel that the wisdom of Jesus as we live in the end times is to “not get fooled, don’t be afraid, don’t grow cold and don’t give up.
“ That may not seem that tempting on the day you graduate, but it may seem more tempting one year from now, 10 years from now, 20 years from now, with the burdens of ministry, ” Ryken said. “ Don’t give up but persevere by the power and grace of God.” D
ELLIOTT Dansby
JOSHUA CHATRAW
Phil ryken
1997
Russell Levenson Jr., DMin ’97, recently published In God’s Grip: What Golf Can Teach Us About the Gospel (Insight Press).
1998
Mark Baynes, MDiv '98, recently released a Celtic worship album, The Old Truth Vol. 1, and published a worship textbook, Worship Under the Influence: Rediscovering the Joy of Acceptable Worship.
2000
Naomi Reese, MDiv ’00, published Seeking the Welfare of the City: Toward an Evangelical Appropriation of the Pneumatology of Colin Gunton for Public Theology (Pickwick Publications) in January 2025.
Lia Scholl, MDiv ’00, serves as pastor of First Friends Meeting in Greensboro, North Carolina.
2001
Andy Byers, MDiv ’01, co-edited the book Religion, Theology, and Stranger Things: Studies from the Upside Down on Evil, Ethics, Horror, and Hope (Rowman & Littlefield) in February 2025.
2003
Irini Fambro, MDiv ’03, became university president of The King's University in Southlake, Texas.
2005
Mark Smith, MDiv ’05, became senior chaplain of palliative care at Baptist Memorial Healthcare in Memphis, Tennessee. Mark is also a chaplain, Lt. Col., in the Air National Guard.
2006
Mark Hutton, MDiv ’06, became executive pastor of First Presbyterian Church (ECO) in Greenville, South Carolina. Prior to that role, he was elected mayor of Bristol, Tennessee.
2007
Michaela (Bundon) Odom, MDiv ’07, became the director of youth, children and young family ministries at First Baptist Church in Rockmart, Georgia. She is married to Jason Odom, MDiv ’12, who serves as the pastor of FBC Rockmart.
2009
Jacob Helsley, MDiv ’09, graduated from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary with his ThM in 2024 and became minister of discipleship at First Baptist Church of Columbia, South Carolina, in January 2024.
Patrick Powell, DMin ’09, serves as pastor of Arbor Springs Baptist Church in Northport, Alabama, and as a chaplain with the Alabama Army National Guard.
2011
Alyse Fulton, MDiv ’11, became the founding editor of NWA Prays in September 2024.
Hope Gray, MATS ’11, earned an MS in Health Services Research in 2024.
Frances Slatery, MATS ’11, married Jeremiah Gates on April 27, 2024.
2012
Ben Birdsong, MDiv ’12, became director of European expansion for First Priority Global in June 2024.
Timothy Scott Rutherford, MDiv ’12, became vicar and planting pastor of Saint Andrews Anglican Church, Cullman Chapel in Cullman, Alabama.
2013
Johnathan Harris, MDiv ’13, earned his PhD from Wheaton College and teaches as a visiting assistant professor at Samford University.
2014
Carlea Jordan, MDiv ’14, became pastor of Saint Paul Pensacola United Methodist Church in Pensacola, Florida, in July 2024.
Kyle Logan, MDiv ’14, planted Resurrection Anglican Church in Bend, Oregon, in the spring of 2024.
Taylor, MDiv ’14, and Lydia, MDiv ’14, Whitley became pastors of Community Church in Berlin, Germany, in June 2024.
Matt Swale, MDiv ’14, published his dissertation, “From Recollection to Recommitment: The Rhetorical Function of Allusions to Judges in Psalms 68, 83, and 106” (Gorgias Press), in 2024.
2016
Griffin Gulledge, MDiv ’16, became senior pastor at First Baptist Church in Fayetteville, Georgia, in January 2025.
2017
John Steakley, MDiv ’17, published Unbound Grace: Hope in the Wilderness of Addiction (Unbound Grace) in 2024.
2018
Justin Hendrix, MDiv '18, published his first book, Never Meant to Be Alone: How Singleness Points to Union with Christ (Wipf and Stock), in 2024.
2019
Daniel Gilliland, MDiv ’19, became associate pastor of discipleship at Union Community Church in Chelsea, Alabama, in September 2024.
Kyle Young, MDiv ’19, married Amy Mullen in December 2024.
2020
Daniel McCarley, MDiv ’20, became resident associate rector at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Melbourne, Florida, in August 2024. He also married Virginia Compton in October 2024.
2021
Josh Kruntorad, MDiv ’21, became the RUF campus minister at the University of NebraskaLincoln in the summer of 2024.
2022
Michal Mabray, MDiv ’22, became children's ministry director and women’s ministry coordinator at Red Mountain Church in Birmingham, Alabama, in 2024.
Stephanie Patterson, MDiv ’22, became spiritual care counselor at Big Bend Hospice in Tallahassee, Florida, in January 2024.
Ty Proctor, MDiv ’22, became young adults associate at Shades Mountain Baptist Church in Vestavia Hills, Alabama, in 2024.
2023
Bradley Edwards, MDiv ’23, was recently called as lead pastor of Christ Fellowship (Global Methodist Church) in Magee, Mississippi.
Matthew Hutchens, MDiv ’23, was ordained as a teaching elder in the PCA in May 2024.
Jake Petty, MDiv ’23, recently became the high school director at Faith Community Bible Church in Boise, Idaho.
Lukas Stock, MDiv ’23, became theology instructor and chaplain at New Covenant Schools in Lynchburg, Virginia, in August 2023.
2024
Spencer, MDiv ’24, and Hannah, MDiv ’24, (Price) Adams became church planting residents at First Baptist Church in Muscatine, Iowa, in November 2024.
Jesse Carr, MDiv ’24, was named senior pastor of Mud Creek Baptist Church in Hendersonville, North Carolina, in March 2025. D
Baby Updates
2014
Clayton, MDiv ’14, and Sarah, MATS’21, (Howard) Hornback welcomed their son, Paul Thompson, in October 2023. Clayton recently became assistant pastor at Homewood Community Church in Homewood, Alabama. 1
2017
Jason Kriaski, MDiv ’17, and his wife Christy welcomed their third child, Evelyn Marie, in July 2024. 2
2018
Waters Faulkner, MDiv ’18, and his wife Sarah welcomed their first child, Genevieve Ruth, in August 2024. Waters is pursuing Holy Orders in the Anglican Church of North America. 3
2019
Rebecca, MATS ’19, and James, MDiv ’19, Henderson welcomed their second son, Julian, in September 2024. 4
Wynn Morris, MDiv ’19, and his wife Katheryn welcomed their son, Wyndell James Jr., in May 2024. 5
Mark Rector, MDiv ’19, and his wife Anne welcomed their fourth child, Julia, in May 2024. 6
Anna, MDiv ’19, and Andrew, MDiv ’19, Russell welcomed their daughter, Molly Katherine, in September 2024. 7
2020
Abby, MDiv ’21, and Cort, MDiv ’20, Gatliff welcomed their third daughter, Nealy Anne, in September 2024. Cort was installed as senior pastor of South Highland Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, Alabama, in September 2024. 8
Jarrod Reese, MDiv ’20, and his wife Jessica welcomed their fourth child, Colvin James, in June 2024. 9
Zach Walker, MDiv ’20, and his wife Shelby welcomed their second child, Daisy, in November 2024. 10
2021
Brady Graves, MDiv ’22, and his wife Victoria welcomed their daughter, Caris Claire, in November 2024. 11
2022
Ash Skinner, MATS ’22, and her husband Noah welcomed their first child, Nicodemus Pasquale, in October 2023. 12
2023
Sydney, MATS ’23, and Jake, MDiv ’23, Fulwiler welcomed their son, John Tribbett V, in February 2025. 13
2024
Josiah Trombley, MDiv ’24, and his wife Callie welcomed their first child, Anna-Rose Louise, in January 2025. Josiah recently began serving as curate at Christ Our King Anglican Church in New Braunfels, Texas. 14 D
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