Contributors

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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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  Joseph Loconte

  Associate Professor
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Team Members

Joseph Loconte
Associate Professor
Joseph Loconte, Associate Professor, Ph.D., is Senior Fellow in Christianity and Culture at The King’s College and the Director of the Simon Center for American Studies at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. From 2009 to 2020. Mr. Loconte has a master’s degree from Wheaton College and earned his PhD in history at King’s College London, University of London. He is the author of several books, including: the New York Times bestseller A Hobbit, a Wardrobe, and a Great War: How J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis Rediscovered Faith, Friendship, and Heroism in the Cataclysm of 1914-1918. He is currently at work on a documentary film based on his book A Hobbit, a Wardrobe, and a Great War.
 
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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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  Jo Vitale

  Speaker
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Team Members

Jo Vitale
Speaker
Jo Vitale, Speaker, has served in teaching and pastoral roles at the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics (OCCA). During her time in Oxford, Jo graduated with an M.A. in theology, an M.St. in Biblical interpretation, and a DPhil (Ph.D.) in theology, each from the University of Oxford. Jo has spoken internationally in a variety of contexts, including universities, businesses, churches, schools, conferences, and radio programs.
 
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  John Koessler

  Professor
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Team Members

John Koessler
Professor
John Koessler, is chair and professor of pastoral studies at Chicago’s Moody Bible Institute where he has been a faculty member since 1994. Prior to joining Moody, John served as pastor of Valley Chapel in Green Valley, IL for nine years. An award-winning author who has written thirteen books and numerous magazine articles, he is a frequent conference speaker and preacher.