Wayne Grudem, research professor of Theology and Biblical Studies at Phoenix Seminary in Arizona, announced his teaching career is coming to an end.
Wayne Grudem / Photo courtesy of Phoenix Seminary
“I walked out of the classroom with a kind of weariness that I don’t remember feeling before,” Grudem wrote in a recent letter. “The combination of my Parkinson’s disease, my prostate cancer and its treatments, and my 76 years of age all are combining, and the result is that I don’t have the energy that I have previously had.” After seeking advice, he said he reached the decision “that this would be my last semester of teaching.”
In addition to his role at Phoenix Seminary, Grudem taught at Bethel College in St. Paul and then at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School for 20 years. Over the last 47 years, Grudem has taught more than 9,000 students. He has also served as co-founder and former president of the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood and president of the Evangelical Theological Society.
“Wayne’s literary contribution in a number of biblical and cultural areas has been profound and formative: spiritual, theological, exegetical, business, political, ethical issues have all been addressed by this theologian,” wrote Tom Nettles, who most recently worked as professor of Historical Theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. “Application of biblical principles to political issues is a mark of Grudem’s sense of stewardship of the whole life… Wayne does not shy away from all the tough issues.”
Grudem has authored more than 100 academic articles and 20 books, including his bestselling “Systematic Theology.” Grudem was the General Editor for the “ESV Study Bible” (Evangelical Christian Publishers Association Book of the Year) published in 2008. The ESV Study Bible has sold more than 1 million copies.
Access to MinistryWatch content is free. However, we hope you will support our work with your prayers and financial gifts. To make a donation, click here.
“Having disagreements with some of the translation theory of the TNIV, Wayne gave much time, energy, and theological expertise to that project from its beginning to its completion,” Nettles wrote. “He served on the Translation Oversight Committee for the translation itself and as General Editor for the ESV study Bible.”
Grudem shared his perspective on his next phase of life: “I find it interesting that I’m not thinking of old age as something to be feared. It rather feels like I’ve been running a long race and I’ve turned a corner and now I see the finish line in the distance. Thinking that perhaps 80% of the race is over is, for me, a comforting feeling.”
TO OUR READERS: Do you have a story idea, or do you want to give us feedback about this or any other story? Please email us: info@ministrywatch.com