Contributors

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  Joel Woodruff

  President, C.S. Lewis Institute
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Team Members

Joel Woodruff
President, C.S. Lewis Institute
Joel Woodruff, President, C.S. Lewis Institute, has worked in higher education, “tent-making,” nonprofit administration, and pastoral ministries in Alaska, Israel, Hungary, France, and Northern Virginia. He served as Dean of Students, Chaplain, and Professor of Bible & Theology at European Bible Institute, where he helped train Europeans both for professional ministry and to be Christian leaders in the marketplace. Prior to joining the Institute, he was on the leadership team of Oakwood Services International, a nonprofit educational and humanitarian organization. He is a graduate of Wheaton College, earned his M.Div. from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and has a doctorate in Organizational Leadership from Nova Southeastern University. As a Parish-Pulpit Fellow, he studied Biblical Backgrounds & Archaeology in Israel for a year.
 
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  D.A. Carson

  Professor
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Team Members

D.A. Carson
Professor
D.A. Carson, Professor, is research professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois and president of The Gospel Coalition. He has written or edited about sixty other books, including the Pillar New Testament Commentary volume on the Gospel according to John, The Gagging of God: Christianity Confronts Pluralism, Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church, The Intolerance of Tolerance, Christ and Culture Revisited, the long-popular New Testament Commentary Survey, and The Enduring Authority of the Christian Scriptures.
 
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  George “Chip” Hammond

  Pastor
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Team Members

George “Chip” Hammond
Pastor
George "Chip" Hammond, has shepherded Bethel Presbyterian Church in Leesburg, VA since 1993. He has published works in the academic community regarding the intellectually disabled in the church and contributes to publications like Westminster Theological Journal and New Horizons. He is a Teaching Fellow with the C.S. Lewis Institute’s Fellows Program. Chip and his wife Donna are on the cusp of being empty-nesters. When not preaching, teaching, writing, or studying, he enjoys listening to jazz and playing drums with other musicians, and working with his hands.
 
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  Randy Newman

  Senior Fellow for Apologetics and Evangelism, CSLI
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Team Members

Randy Newman
Senior Fellow for Apologetics and Evangelism, CSLI
Randy Newman (1956-2024) was the Senior Fellow for Apologetics and Evangelism at the C.S. Lewis Institute. He taught at several evangelical seminaries. After serving for over 30 years with Campus Crusade for Christ, he established Connection Points, a ministry to help Christians engage people’s hearts the way Jesus did. He has written seven books, Questioning Evangelism, Corner Conversations, Bringing the Gospel Home, Engaging with Jewish People, Unlikely Converts: Improbable Stories of Faith and What They Teach Us About Evangelism, Mere Evangelism. and his most recent, Questioning Faith: Indirect Journeys of Belief through Terrains of Doubt. Randy has also written numerous articles about evangelism and other ways our lives intertwine with God’s creation. He earned his MDiv and PhD in Intercultural Studies from Trinity International University. Randy went home to be with the Lord in May 2024.
 
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  Michael Ward

  Professor
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Team Members

Michael Ward
Professor
Michael Ward is a member of the Faculty of Theology and Religion at the University of Oxford and Professor of Apologetics at Houston Baptist University. He studied English at the University of Oxford, theology at the University of Cambridge, and he earned his PhD in Divinity at the University of St. Andrews. He is the author and editor of multiple books, most notably the award-winning Planet Narnia: The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C.S. Lewis, After Humanity: A Guide to C.S. Lewis’s The Abolition of Man and The Cambridge Companion to C.S. Lewis. On the fiftieth anniversary of Lewis’s death, Dr. Ward unveiled a permanent national memorial to Lewis in Poets’ Corner, Westminster Abbey, London.

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  Thomas A. Tarrants

  Author, President Emeritus, CSLI
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Team Members



Thomas A. Tarrants

Author, President Emeritus, CSLI

Thomas A. Tarrants is President Emeritus of the C.S. Lewis Institute. After serving twelve years as president and nine years as vice President, he retired from his position as Vice President for Ministry and Director, Washington Area Fellows Program, with CSLI in June 2019. He holds a Master's of Divinity Degree, as well as a Doctor of Ministry Degree in Christian Spirituality. Tom is an ordained minister in the Evangelical Church Alliance and a member of the Evangelical Theological Society. He spends his time writing, mentoring, consulting and traveling. His life story is told in Consumed by Hate, Redeemed by Love, published by Thomas Nelson Publishers.

 

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  Michael Maibach

  Professor
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Team Members

Michael Maibach
Professor
Michael Maibach, is a poet, professor and an international business consultant. A lifelong student, he has earned six academic degrees and has held a wide variety of teaching positions at over 40 universities. He is also at home in the international business world, specializing in global business diplomacy. He lives in the Washington, D.C. area and actively participates in C. S. Lewis Institute programs.
 
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  Martin Luther

  Theologian
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Team Members

Martin Luther
Theologian
Martin Luther, Theologian, (1483 –1546) was a German professor of theology, priest, author, and a key figure in the Protestant Reformation. He came to reject several teachings and practices of the Roman Catholic Church. He taught that salvation and, consequently, eternal life are not earned by good deeds but are received only as the free gift of God's grace through the believer's faith in Jesus Christ as redeemer from sin. His refusal to renounce all of his writings at the demand of Pope Leo X in 1520 and the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Worms in 1521 resulted in his excommunication by the pope and condemnation as an outlaw by the Holy Roman Emperor.
 
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  Joseph A. Kohm

  Vice President for Development, CSLI & CSLI City Director, Virginia Beach
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Team Members

Joseph A. Kohm
Vice President for Development, CSLI & CSLI City Director, Virginia Beach
Joseph A. Kohm, C.S. Lewis Institute Vice President for Development and City Director for Virginia Beach. Joe is an attorney and formerly worked as a Certified Major League Baseball Player Agent. He earned his Master’s in Management Science from the State University of New York at Oswego and both his J.D. and M.Div. from Regent University. Joe is the author of The Unknown Garden of Another’s Heart: The Surprising Friendship between C.S. Lewis and Arthur Greeves (Wipf and Stock, 2022.)