W. Robert Godfrey

Last updated

W. Robert Godfrey
Born1945 (1945)
NationalityAmerican
Occupation(s)Professor, seminary president, author, minister
Notable workAn Unexpected Journey, God's Pattern for Creation, Pleasing God in Our Worship
SpouseMary Ellen
Theological work
Tradition or movement Reformed
Main interestsChurch history

W. Robert Godfrey is a minister in the United Reformed Churches in North America and formerly served as the third president of Westminster Seminary California. As of 2017 he is president emeritus and professor emeritus of church history. He currently is chairman of Ligonier Ministries, located in Sanford, Florida, a position he took over from the late Dr. R. C. Sproul. [1]

He has taught at Westminster Seminary California since 1981 and previously taught at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, as well as Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and Stanford University. He is a council member of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, an organization of pastors and theologians from the Baptist, Presbyterian, Reformed, Anglican, Congregational, and Lutheran church communities. He has been a speaker at many theological conferences, including those sponsored by the Philadelphia Conference on Reformed Theology, Ligonier Ministries, and the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization. [2]

Godfrey earned his Master of Divinity from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and a Master of Arts and PhD from Stanford University.

Godfrey grew up in Alameda, California, where his father and grandfather each served as mayor. [3] [4] He was introduced to Calvinism when he was a teenager. [5] He lives in California with his wife Mary Ellen, with whom he has three grown children, who also reside in California. [6]

In 2010 a Festschrift was published in his honor. Always Reformed: Essays in Honor of W. Robert Godfrey included contributions from R. Scott Clark, Sinclair B. Ferguson, D. G. Hart, Michael S. Horton, Richard A. Muller, R. C. Sproul, and David VanDrunen.

Published works

Books written by Godfrey include the following:

He has written chapters or articles for the following books:

Godfrey has also written articles for journals such as the Westminster Theological Journal , Archive for Reformation History , and Sixteenth-Century Journal .

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gordon–Conwell Theological Seminary</span> Theological seminary in Massachusetts

Gordon–Conwell Theological Seminary (GCTS) is an evangelical seminary with its main campus in Hamilton, Massachusetts, and three other campuses in Boston, Massachusetts; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Jacksonville, Florida. According to the Association of Theological Schools, Gordon-Conwell ranks as one of the largest evangelical seminaries in North America in terms of total number of full-time students enrolled.

Michael Scott Horton has been the J. Gresham Machen Professor of Theology and Apologetics at Westminster Seminary California since 1998, Editor-in-Chief of Modern Reformation (MR) magazine, and President and host of the nationally syndicated radio broadcast, The White Horse Inn. Both Modern Reformation magazine and The White Horse Inn radio broadcast are now entities under the umbrella of White Horse Media, whose offices are located on the campus of Westminster Seminary California.

The Cambridge Declaration is a statement of faith written in 1996 by the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, a group of Reformed and Lutheran Evangelicals who were concerned with the state of the Evangelical movement in America, and throughout the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">R. C. Sproul</span> American theologian and pastor (1939–2017)

Robert Charles Sproul was an American Reformed theologian and ordained pastor in the Presbyterian Church in America. He was the founder and chairman of Ligonier Ministries and could be heard daily on the Renewing Your Mind radio broadcast in the United States and internationally. Under Sproul's direction, Ligonier Ministries produced the Ligonier Statement on Biblical Inerrancy, which would eventually grow into the 1978 Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy, of which Sproul, alongside Norman Geisler, was one of the chief architects. Sproul has been described as "the greatest and most influential proponent of the recovery of Reformed theology in the last century."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sinclair Ferguson</span> Scottish theologian and academic

Sinclair Buchanan Ferguson is a Scottish theologian known in Reformed Christian circles for his teaching, writing, and editorial work. He has been Chancellor's Professor of Systematic Theology at Reformed Theological Seminary since 2017, commuting from Scotland, where he is an assistant minister at St. Peter's Free Church of Scotland, Dundee. He is currently a preaching associate at Trinity Church, Aberdeen

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Covenant Theological Seminary</span> Seminary of the Presbyterian Church in America

Covenant Theological Seminary, informally called Covenant Seminary, is the denominational seminary of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). Located in Creve Coeur, Missouri, it trains people to work as leaders in church positions and elsewhere, especially as pastors, missionaries, and counselors. It does not require all students to be members of the PCA, but it is bound to promote the teachings of its denomination. Faculty must subscribe to the system of biblical doctrine outlined in the Westminster Standards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Gerstner</span> American theologian and academic

John Henry Gerstner was an American Reformed and Presbyterian theologian and professor of Church History at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and Knox Theological Seminary. He was an expert on the life and theology of Jonathan Edwards.

Harold John Ockenga was a leading figure of mid-20th-century American Evangelicalism, part of the reform movement known as "Neo-Evangelicalism". A Congregational minister, Ockenga served for many years as pastor of Park Street Church in Boston, Massachusetts. He was also a prolific author on biblical, theological, and devotional topics. Ockenga helped to found the Fuller Theological Seminary and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, as well as the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen Tong</span> Chinese-Indonesian pastor

Stephen Tong Tjong Eng is a Chinese Indonesian Reformed pastor, evangelist, teacher and musician. He heads the Reformed Evangelical Church of Indonesia, which houses the megachurch Messiah Cathedral, and is the largest Christian Church building in Southeast Asia. He has preached in countries around the world, and guest lectured at theological seminaries and schools.

Robert Scott Clark is an American Reformed pastor and seminary professor. He is the author of several books, including his most recent work, Recovering the Reformed Confession.

Robert Craig Sproul, better known as R.C. Sproul Jr., is an American Calvinist writer, theologian, and pastor, and the son of R. C. Sproul.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ligonier Ministries</span> American Christian organization

Ligonier Ministries is an international Christian discipleship organization headquartered in the greater Orlando, Florida area. Ligonier was founded in 1971 by R. C. Sproul in the Ligonier Valley, Pennsylvania, outside of Pittsburgh. Ligonier is distinguished by its teaching of Reformed theology.

Darryl G. Hart is a religious and social historian. Hart is Distinguished Associate Professor of History at Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, Michigan. He previously served as dean of academic affairs at Westminster Seminary California from 2000 to 2003, taught church history and served as librarian at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, directed the Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals at Wheaton College, and was Director of Partnered Projects, Academic Programs, and Faculty Development at the Intercollegiate Studies Institute in Wilmington, Delaware. He is an elder in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Gaffin</span> Chinese-born American theologian and academic

Richard B. Gaffin, Jr. is a Calvinist theologian, Presbyterian minister, and was the Charles Krahe Professor of Biblical and Systematic Theology at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from 1999 to 2008. He became the Professor Emeritus, Biblical and Systematic Theology in 2008.

Roger R. Nicole was a native Swiss Reformed Baptist theologian and proponent of Christian egalitarianism and biblical inerrancy. He was an associate editor for the New Geneva Study Bible, assisted in the translation of the New International Version, and was a founding member of both the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy and the Evangelical Theological Society, serving as president of the latter in 1956.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cornelius Van Til</span> Dutch-American philosopher and theologian

Cornelius Van Til was a Dutch-American reformed philosopher and theologian, who is credited as being the originator of modern presuppositional apologetics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Derek Thomas (theologian)</span>

Derek W. H. Thomas is a Reformed pastor and theologian known for his teaching, writing and editorial work. He is currently the senior pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Columbia, South Carolina and distinguished visiting professor of systematic and historical theology at Reformed Theological Seminary in Atlanta, Georgia.

Joel Robert Beeke is an American Reformed pastor and theologian. He is a minister of the Heritage Reformed Congregation in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and President of Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, where he is also the professor of Systematic Theology and Homiletics. He is an expert on the Puritans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul C. H. Lim</span> Historian (born 1967)

Paul Chang-Ha Lim an American ecclesiastical historian who serves as professor of church history at Vanderbilt University Divinity School. His main research involves the intellectual history and historical theology of Reformation and post-Reformation England.

References

  1. "W. Robert Godfrey | Resources from Ligonier Ministries".
  2. Dr. W. Robert Godfrey , retrieved November 29, 2012
  3. "An interview with W. Robert Godfrey" . Retrieved May 22, 2018.
  4. McDonough, Susan (August 11, 2004). "Island mourns the death of 'Mr. Alameda'". East Bay Times. Retrieved May 22, 2018.
  5. 1 2 Robert Godfrey, W. (2004). An Unexpected Journey: Discovering Reformed Christianity. ISBN   9780875527192 . Retrieved August 26, 2022.
  6. W. Robert Godfrey Biography (PDF), retrieved May 22, 2018