Contributors

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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 Studies
Jerry 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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  Rosaria Butterfield

  Speaker
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Rosaria Butterfield
Speaker
Rosaria Butterfield is a speaker and author of several books including, Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert: An English Professor’s Journey Into the Christian Faith, Openness Unhindered: Further Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert on Sexual Identity, Union with Christ and The Gospel Comes with a House Key: Practicing Radically Ordinary Hospitality in Our Post-Christian World. Rosaria earned her PhD from Ohio State University and was a tenured professor of English at a large university before she came to believe the claims of Jesus Christ. Rosaria is zealous for hospitality, loves her family, cherishes dogs, and enjoys coffee.
 
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  Ken Smith

  Speaker
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Ken Smith
Speaker
Ken Smith, Pastor, in the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America and was ordained in what was the Central-Pittsburgh Reformed Presbyterian Church in 1952. He served in the Navy during World War II and is a graduate of Geneva College. He and his late wife, Floy, spent time in pastoral ministry in Pittsburgh, Cyprus, Northern Ireland and Syracuse, NY. He has served on the boards of Wilkinsburg Christian School, Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary (RPTS), and Geneva College where he chaired the Board of Trustees for seven years. He has lectured at RPTS and been a faculty member of the Ottawa Theological Hall since its start. He is the author of several books including Learning to be a Family.
 
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  James M. Houston

  CSLI Co-Founder
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Team Members

James M. Houston
CSLI Co-FounderJames M. Houston (1922 – 2026) is a co-founder of the C.S. Lewis Institute. Jim served as a Senior Fellow of the Institute, lecturing at CSLI events over the past five decades. He received his Bachelor of Science and M.A. degrees from the University of Edinburgh and a D. Phil. from Oxford University. He was a University Lecturer at Oxford from 1947 – 1971 where he taught cultural and historical geography. While teaching at Oxford, he met C.S. Lewis and participated in a regular Bible study with him for six years. He is known as one of the “founding fathers” of Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia where he has served as the first Principal, Chancellor and Professor of Spiritual Theology.  
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  Christin Ditchfield Lazo

  Speaker
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Team Members



Christin Ditchfield Lazo

Speaker

Christin Ditchfield Lazo is the author of the best-selling A Family Guide to Narnia: Biblical Truths in C.S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia, and more than 80 other books, including several literature curriculum guides introducing thousands of elementary school children to the world of Narnia. For seventeen years, she hosted her own syndicated radio program, Take It To Heart!® broadcast daily in the U.S. and around the world. For thirty years, Christin has been speaking at conferences and retreats all over the country, calling believers to a deeper life of faith, a life of passion and purpose. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Christian Leadership, a master’s degree in Bible and Theology, and a doctorate in Spiritual Formation.
 

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  Nancy Guthrie

  Speaker
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Team Members

Nancy Guthrie
Speaker
Nancy Guthrie, is a Bible teacher and author of several books including Holding On to Hope: A Pathway of Suffering to the Heart of God. She trains women and helps them identify and understand major themes that run from Genesis to Revelation. Nancy and her husband, David, are hosts of the Grief Share video series for small group ministry to grieving people.  They also host Respite Retreat, a retreat ministry for couples who have experienced the death of a child. She is pursuing graduate work in theological studies via Reformed Theological Seminary Global. She speaks regularly at conferences nationally and internationally, and is a regular contributor to The Gospel Coalition, including hosting the Help Me Teach the Bible podcast.
 
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  Carl Trueman

  Professor
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Team Members

Carl Trueman
Professor
Carl Trueman, Professor, is a Christian theologian and ecclesiastical historian. He was Professor of Historical Theology and Church History at Westminster Theological Seminary, where he held the Paul Woolley Chair of Church History. In 2018 Trueman become a full-time undergraduate Professor at Grove City College, serving as Full Professor in their Department of Biblical and Religious Studies. He has an M.A. in Classics from the University of Cambridge and a Ph.D. in Church History from the University of Aberdeen. Trueman has authored or edited more than a dozen books, including The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self, The Creedal Imperative, Luther on the Christian Life, and Histories and Fallacies.
 
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  Andrew Peterson

  Author
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Team Members

Andrew Peterson
Author
Andrew Peterson, Singer-songwriter, an author, and the founder of the Rabbit Room, a ministry dedicated to fostering spiritual formation and Christ-centered community through story, art, and music. He has released eleven records over the past fifteen years including his latest album, Resurrection Letters, Vol. 1. His music has earned him a reputation for writing songs that connect with his listeners in ways equally powerful, poetic, and intimate. A natural-born storyteller, Andrew has also followed his gifts into the realm of publishing. His books include The Wingfeather Saga and Adorning the Dark: Thoughts on Community, Calling, and the Mystery of Making. He lives in Nashville with his wife and about 80,000 honeybees.
 
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  Randy Alcorn

  Speaker
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Team Members

Randy Alcorn
Speaker
Randy Alcorn, Author, is the founder and director of Eternal Perspective Ministries, a nonprofit organization dedicated to teaching biblical truth. He is also a New York Times bestselling author who has written over fifty books including Courageous, Heaven, The Treasure Principle, and the Gold Medallion winner Safely Home. His books have been translated into over seventy languages and have sold over eleven million copies. Randy attended Western Seminary and received both an M.A. and Th.B. from Multnomah Bible College in Portland, OR. He also taught on the part-time faculties of Western Seminary and Multnomah University.

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  Andy Bannister

  Author and Speaker
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Team Members

Andy Bannister
Author and Speaker
Andy Bannister is an author, speaker, and broadcaster. He is currently the Director of the Solas Center for Public Christianity, an evangelism and training ministry, as well as the Adjunct Research Fellow at Arthur Jeffery Centre for the Study of Islam at Melbourne School of Theology. He holds a PhD in Islamic Studies and has taught extensively at universities across the world on both Islam and Philosophy. Andy speaks regularly on Christianity to audiences of all faiths across Europe, Canada, the US, and further afield. He is an author of several books including: The Atheist Who Didn't Exist, Do Muslims and Christians Worship the Same God? and most recently, How to Talk About Jesus Without Looking Like an Idiot.
 
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  Os Guinness

  Author
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Team Members

Os Guinness
AuthorOs Guinness, is the author and editor of more than thirty books, including Fool's Talk, Renaissance, The Global Public Square, A Free People's Suicide, Unspeakable, The Call, Time for Truth, The Case for Civility and his most recent book, Zero Hour America. A frequent speaker and prominent social critic, he has addressed audiences worldwide from the British House of Commons to the U.S. Congress to the St. Petersburg Parliament. Guinness has had a lifelong passion to make sense of our extraordinary modern world and to stand between the worlds of scholarship and ordinary life, helping each to understand the other - particularly when advanced modern life touches on the profound issues of faith. (Photo By Deryck Chan 2013)