Contributors

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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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  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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  Chris Morris

  Speaker
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Team Members

Chris Morris
SpeakerChris Morris, Speaker, is Chairman of the Board of Directors at C.S. Lewis Institute and COO of Bonaventure, an alternative investment manager and real estate investment firm. Formerly he worked at MPact Partners, a strategy, operations and finance consulting firm. . He has a master’s degree in business administration from the Harvard Business School and a bachelor’s degree in economics from Stanford University.  
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  C.S. Lewis Institute

  Author
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Team Members

C.S. Lewis Institute
Author
C.S. Lewis Institute, in the legacy of C.S. Lewis, works to develop wholehearted disciples of Jesus Christ who will articulate, defend, share, and live their faith in personal and public life. Founded in 1976 by Dr. James Houston and James R. Hiskey, the Institute provides leading teachers who address important issues of the day from the perspective of Biblical orthodoxy, while also providing discipleship for individuals in small groups.
 
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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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  Aimee Riegert

  CSLI Fellow
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Team Members

Aimee Riegert
CSLI Fellow
Aimee Riegert, CSLI Fellow, earned bachelor’s degrees in mathematics and foreign language studies from Southern Methodist University. In addition to supporting various national security efforts in Northern Virginia, she has worked as an itinerant high school math teacher and drama coach, and has served in women’s ministries, praise teams, on the adult support team for Young Life and as a “mentor mom” for MOPS International ministries, as well as English instructor in several ESL programs in Japan. She is a graduate of the C.S. Lewis Institute Year One Fellows Program.
 
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  Mary Pope

  Voiceover Artist and Narrator
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Team Members

Mary Pope
Voiceover Artist and Narrator
Mary Pope entered the world of voiceover with a desire to use her voice for Kingdom Work. She feels blessed to be doing just that for the C.S. Lewis Institute. Her husband of almost 40 years feels blessed she has found an outlet for all those words (smile!). Mary and Ken are empty-nesters living in Arlington, VA.
 
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  Jerry Root

  Professor, Christopher W. Mitchell Senior Fellow for C.S. Lewis Studies
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Team Members

Jerry Root
Professor, Christopher W. Mitchell Senior Fellow for C.S. Lewis StudiesJerry Root is the Christopher W. Mitchell Senior Fellow for C.S. Lewis Studies at the C.S. Lewis Institute; Emeritus Professor of Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois and a visiting Professor at Biola University. He received his Ph.D. from the Open University through the Oxford Centre for Missions Studies. Jerry has nine published books, as well as numerous articles and publications about C. S. Lewis and evangelism in other books, journals, and periodicals, as well as read numerous academic papers at various academic venues. Recently, he published, Splendour in the Dark, a book about C. S. Lewis’s narrative poem Dymer (the book also includes Lewis’s 100-page poem). Jerry has lectured on Lewis topics at 79 Universities in 19 different countries.  
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  William L. Kynes

  Pastor, Senior Fellow for Pastoral Theology, CSLI
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Team Members

William L. Kynes
Pastor, Senior Fellow for Pastoral Theology, CSLIPastor William L. "Bill" Kynes is the Senior Fellow for Pastoral Theology at the C.S. Lewis Institute, and retired Senior Pastor of Cornerstone, an Evangelical Free Church, in Annandale, VA, where he served from 1986 - 2022. He was an undergraduate at the University of Florida with a major in philosophy. There he also played quarterback and was later inducted into the university’s Athletic Hall of Fame. He attended Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, receiving an MA in theology. He received an MDiv from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, before returning to England for a PhD in New Testament from Cambridge University. From 1997-1999, he served as an adjunct professor in New Testament for the Trinity Evangelical Divinity School Washington, DC, Extension Program.  
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  Malcolm Guite

  Speaker
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Team Members

Malcolm Guite
Speaker
Malcolm Guite, Author, is a Life Fellow of Girton College, Cambridge, and writes the weekly Poet’s Corner column for the Church Times. He is the author of several books including Mariner: A voyage with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Love Remember: 40 poems of loss, lament and hope, and David’s Crown: Sounding the Psalms. Guite earned degrees from Cambridge and Durham universities. His research interests include the intersection of religion and the arts, and the examination of the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, Owen Barfield, and British poets such as Samuel Taylor Coleridge. He was a Bye-Fellow and chaplain of Girton College, Cambridge and associate chaplain of St Edward King and Martyr in Cambridge.
 
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  Jonathan Edwards

  Theologian
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Team Members

Jonathan Edwards
Theologian
Jonathan Edwards, (1703 – 1758) was a theologian and revivalist preacher. He is said to have played a critical role in the shaping of the First Great Awakening and shepherded the first revivals in 1733-35 at his church in Massachusetts. He is perhaps remembered by most for his classic sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” Edwards has authored many books including The End for Which God Created the World, The Life of David Brainerd and Religious Affections.