Biblical Studies and Christian Ministries Faculty

Roger J. Green
Department Chair
Professor of Biblical Studies

Click here to email

B.A. Temple University
M.Div. Asbury Theological Seminary
M.Th. Princeton Theological Seminary
Ph.D. Boston College

Roger J. Green received his B.A. from Temple University in Philadelphia with a major in English in 1965, followed by an M.Div. from Asbury Theological Seminary, an M.Th. from Princeton Theological Seminary, a Ph.D. in theology from Boston College, and a D.D. (honorary) from William and Catherine Booth College. He began teaching in 1970 at Barrington College in Barrington, Rhode Island, and came to Gordon College as part of the merger of Barrington College and Gordon College in 1985. He has served as chair of the department of biblical studies and Christian ministries since 1988, and in 1995 was named as the second incumbent of the Terrelle B. Crum Chair of Humanities, a chair named in honor of the dean of faculty at Barrington College for forty years. He teaches the New Testament core course as well as several courses in theology. He is a layperson in The Salvation Army, and has written three books and several articles on both the theology and the biography of William Booth and Catherine Booth, the Founders of that movement.  He travels internationally for The Salvation Army, teaching and preaching at conferences for both ministers and the laity, and is the co-editor of The Salvation Army’s theological journal entitled Word & Deed: A Journal of Salvation Army Theology and Ministry. He is married to Karen Nordeen, who for several years was a nurse at Gordon College and Barrington College.
 

Mark W. Cannister
Department Co-Chair
Professor of Christian Ministries

Click here to email

B.S. California University of Pennsylvania
M.A. West Virginia University
Ed.D. University of Pittsburgh

Prior to joining the Gordon faculty in 1992 Mark Cannister spent fifteen years serving in both church and parachurch organizations. He has served as vice-president and president of the North American Professors of Christian Education. In 1994 he joined with two dozen colleagues from across the country to create the Association of Youth Ministry Educators serving as board chair in 1997. Mark is also a member of the International Association for the Study of Youth Ministry. In 2002 he worked to develop the Journal of Youth Ministry and has served as editor since it inception.  He also serves on the advisory boards of Youthworker Journal and the Journal of Student Ministries, and as manuscript referee for the Christian Education Journal. Mark served as the first board chair of The Boston Project Ministries, a community-based organization founded by a group of Gordon students with a passion for seeing renewal in urban neighborhood. Mark regularly takes students to national leadership and ministry conferences as well as mission trips to Wales, UK where student's have the opportunity to teach about Christianity in America in the religion classes of secondary schools. Mark and his family are members of Grace Chapel where he serves as an elder, he and his wife regularly lead adult education courses, and their kids are actively involved in the middle school and high school ministries.

Daniel K. Darko
Associate Professor of Biblical Studies

Click here to email

Dipl., Ghana Christian University, Accra
B.Th. Evangelical Theological Seminary, Croatia
M.A. Oxford Centre for Mission Studies & University of Leeds, UK
M.Th. Evangelical Theological Seminary, Croatia
Ph.D. King’s College, University of London, UK

Born in Ghana, Dan served in ministerial roles as a Director in Youth for Christ, University/Seminary chaplain and local church pastoral positions in Ghana, Croatia, England and the United States. He is President of Africa Potential, Inc. a non-profit organization dedicated to empowering Africans for the service of Africa. Prior to teaching at Gordon College, he taught at the Central University College (Ghana) and the University of Scranton, PA. His graduate education includes a Master of Arts in Biblical Studies from the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies & University of Leeds, Master of Theology from the Evangelical Theological Seminary and Doctor of Philosophy in New Testament Studies from King's College, University of London. Dan is the author of No Longer Living as the Gentiles: Differentiation and Shared Ethical Values in Ephesians 4.17-6.9 (London: T&T Clark, 2008) and several articles and book reviews. He has also presented research papers at the annual meetings of the Society of Biblical Literature, Catholic Biblical Association and the British New Testament Society. Dan specializes in Pauline Studies and is currently working on a book project about the role of spiritual beings in the identity and moral aspirations of Ephesians. Other areas of research at the moment include ‘kinship and household codes in the Pauline Corpus.’ He is married to Maryl and they have two girls, Esther and Debbie.

Theodore A. Hildebrandt
Professor of Biblical Studies

Click here to email

B.A. State University of New York
M.Div., S.T.M. Biblical Theological Seminary
M.A., Ph.D. Grace Theological Seminary

Ted teaches Old and New Testament History and Literature as well as first year Greek. He taught for two decades at Grace College and Seminary in Indiana and for much of that time in the maximum security prison at Michigan City. His areas of scholarly endeavor are in the Hebrew poetic books, and particularly Psalms and Proverbs. Currently he is focusing on and experimenting with making evangelical biblical studies scholarship and courses available online in varied digital formats including text, audio, video, avatar-based animation, virtual reality, and interactive forms as you can see on Ted's own website. The Digital American Standard Version of the Bible in text, audio, and visual commentary is his latest digital creation. He has four adult children (two daughters–one involved in politics, the other a Nurse Practitioner—and two sons–one a software engineer, the other a U.S. Marine) and an amazingly patient and supportive wife. As for hobbies, he enjoys photography, exploring new technologies, and cultivating the soil to grow flowers, vegetables, and trees, as his family has done for generations.

Steven Hunt
Professor of Biblical Studies
 
Click here to email

B.A. Northwestern College
M.C.S. Regent College
Ph.D. University of Sheffield

After teaching for four years at Bethel University in Minnesota, Steve came to Gordon in 2001. Focusing on the New Testament, he specializes in narrative approaches to the Gospel of John and socio-rhetorical approaches to the letters of Paul. He especially enjoys the “intertextual echoes” embedded in all of these texts.

His technical study, Rewriting the Feeding of Five Thousand: John 6.1-15 as a Test Case for Johannine Dependence on the Synoptic Gospels, was just published by Peter Lang for their series, Studies in Biblical Literature, in 2011.

Previously, Steve edited and contributed to a collection of essays honoring his colleague Marv Wilson, entitled, Perspectives on Our Father Abraham (William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2010). He is currently working with Prof. D. Francois Tolmie (University of the Free State, South Africa) and Prof. Ruben Zimmermann (Johannes Gutenberg University, Germany) on a major volume entitled: Character Studies in the Fourth Gospel: Literary Approaches to Sixty-Seven Figures in John (Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, forthcoming).

Having recently published articles on John's characterization of Nicodemus, Lazarus, Abraham and Jesus, Steve is working on several new projects, including essays on Nathanael, the Brothers of Jesus, and the Royal Official’s Son in the Fourth Gospel, as well as a new online course related to the entire New Testament.

Steve enjoys working closely with his student research assistants, and some of this work has led to recent publications co-authored by students Joel Nolette (Gordon class of 2011) and Jordan Montgomery (Gordon class of 2010). A long-standing member of the Society of Biblical Literature, he attends national and regional meetings each year, taking students along whenever possible.

Outside the college, he enjoys all things out-doors, especially camping in the nearby White Mountains and boating on Lake Winnipesaukee with his wife and five kids. He also loves to travel, and having recently studied in both Israel and Italy, he really wants to go to Greece and/or Turkey next. Interested sponsors of this journey are invited to contact Dr. Hunt directly! 

Sharon Galgay Ketcham
Associate Professor of Christian Ministries

Click here to email

B.A. Gordon College
Th.M. Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary
Ph.D. candidate, Boston College

Sharon Galgay Ketcham joined the faculty at Gordon in 2004 after serving a church in Knoxville, TN for nearly ten years. Her experience includes serving at local and denominational levels, writing curriculum, training leaders, and speaking engagements. Presently a doctoral candidate at Boston College, Sharon is active in organizations that promote the study of Christian ministries and is committed to empowering churches to incorporate youth as integral to congregational life. Current research interests include the social environment of learning, communal ecclesiology, and the relational nature of adolescent development. She is a member of the International Association for the Study of Youth Ministry, the North American Professors of Christian Education, and the Association of Youth Ministry Educators. Sharon is a gifted communicator and highly sought after speaker. She enjoys family kickball games with her husband and two children.

Elaine A. Phillips
Professor Biblical Studies

Click here to email

B.A. Cornell University
M.Div. Biblical Theological Seminary
M.A. Institute of Holy Land Studies
Ph.D. The Dropsie College for Hebrew and Cognate Learning

After receiving her undergraduate degree in social psychology from Cornell University and the M Div from Biblical Theological Seminary, Elaine Phillips, along with her husband, Perry, studied and taught for three years in Israel. Upon their return, they taught at a small Christian junior college outside of Philadelphia from 1979–1992. Elaine earned her PhD in rabbinic literature from The Dropsie College for Hebrew and Cognate Learning in Philadelphia and has taught biblical studies at Gordon College since 1993. She and Perry have continued to take Gordon students to Jerusalem University College, where they serve as adjunct faculty for the three-week summer study program in historical geography. In addition to field study in Israel, her areas of interest and scholarly writing include the books of Exodus and Esther, biblical wisdom literature, and rabbinic midrash. She recently completed a book-length comentary on Esther, which is included in The Expositor's Bible Commentary, edited by Tremper Longman and David Garland. She also enjoys music and has sung with Gordon’s symphonic chorale for five seasons.

Robert J. Whittet
Associate Professor of Christian Ministries
Director of Church Relations

Click here to email

B.A. Gordon College
M.Div. Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary

Rev. Bob Whittet has nearly three decades of youth ministry experience in his background, much of it in New England, and serves as an advisor and board member for a number of national and regional ministries. Bob is committed to the life changing effect that cross-cultural youth ministry has on young people and is committed to helping students discover their leadership potential through the Center for Student Leadership.

Click here to email

B.A. Wheaton College
M.Div. Gordon Divinity School
M.A., Ph.D. Brandeis University

Marv Wilson has taught Old Testament and Jewish-Christian studies at Gordon since 1971. Previously, he taught eight years at Barrington College. Dr. Wilson's widely used textbook, Our Father Abraham: Jewish Roots of the Christian Faith, has been translated into Italian, Chinese, Korean and other languages. For a number of years, Marv worked as a translator and editor of the New International Version of the Bible. Recently, he contributed a major article to the ESV Study Bible. Marv served as primary scholar of a two-hour TV documentary, Jews & Christians: A Journey of Faith, a program that has now played on more than 200 PBS stations. Since coming to Gordon, he has led many study tours of Israel. Locally and nationally he has extensive experience in building bridges of understanding between the evangelical Christian and Jewish communities. In the process, he has co-edited four books with rabbis. Marv is married to Polly, a Gordon graduate and an accomplished pianist. When the Wilsons have leisure time to spend together, they especially enjoy travel, watching sports, and listening to music.
 

Paul Borthwick
Adjunct Professor of Christian Ministries

Click here to email
www.borthwicks.org

B.A. University of Massachusetts
M.Div. Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary
D.Min. Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary

In addition to teaching in the area of global Christianity at Gordon College, Paul also serves on the staff of Development Associates International, a training group dedicated to the character and ministry development of leaders in the under-resourced world and serves as an Urbana/Missions Associate with Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship. Paul's ministry focuses on three priorities: mobilizing others for cross-cultural ministry, encouraging the ongoing growth of older leaders, and motivating the development of younger leaders. He serves as a resource person, teacher, speaker, and author. Rick Warren (in Purpose-Driven Life) cites Paul's books A Mind For Missions and How To Be a World-Class Christian as resources that "should be read by every Christian". Paul focuses on encouraging leaders and developing "world Christians". During his twenty-two years of service on the staff of Grace Chapel in Lexington, MA he and his wife Christie coordinated over 100 short-term service teams. Through Development Associates International, they now spend two to four months each year in ministry, mostly in the "Global South." For more information see: www.borthwicks.org.

Scott Larson
Adjunct Professor of Christian Ministries

Click here to email
www.straightahead.com

B.A. South Dakota State University
M. Div. Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary
D. Min. Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary

In addition to teaching courses in Juvenile Justice Ministry at Gordon College Scott is president and founder of Straight Ahead Ministries, an international faith-based organization working with juvenile offenders in more than 400 juvenile detention centers in fourteen states and three countries with a myriad of aftercare programs when youth return home. This Juvenile Justice Ministry provides mentoring programs and aftercare discipleship homes for youth after release from lock-up. Scott has been a speaker and trainer to those working in Juvenile Justice Ministries worldwide since 1986. He is also chairman of Reclaiming Youth International, a strength-based movement providing training and best practice models to programs serving high-risk youth around the world. Scott has authored ten books on working effectively with troubled youth and has been a speaker to youth, parents, teachers, social workers and youth workers since 1983. Dr. Larson is as an approved trainer for the federal government's OJJDP (Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention) Training and Technical Assistance program.