Contributors

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  Dennis Hollinger

  Professor
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Team Members

Dennis Hollinger
Professor
Dennis Hollinger is President Emeritus and the Distinguished Senior Professor of Christian Ethics at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He served there as President and Colman M. Mockler Distinguished Professor of Christian Ethics. Prior to assuming this role, he served as President and Professor of Christian Ethics at Evangelical Theological Seminary. He is the author of four books which include The Meaning of Sex: Christian Ethics and the Moral Life and Choosing the Good: Christian Ethics in a Complex World. Dennis is also a visiting professor of Christian ethics at Trinity International University in the graduate program in Bioethics. He received an M.Div. from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, an M.Phil. and Ph.D. from Drew University, and did post-doctoral studies at Oxford University.
 
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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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  Melanie Beerda

  Writer and Speaker
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Team Members



Melanie Beerda

Writer and Speaker

Melanie Beerda is a writer and speaker as well as a former Addictions Support Worker and Youth Worker specializing in at-risk-youth. She shares her unexpected story of experiencing God's unconditional love.


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  Sharon Dirckx

  Author
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Team Members

Sharon Dirckx
Author
Sharon Dirckx is a speaker and author whose work focuses on responding to the spiritual and faith-related questions that people ask today. She speaks and lectures across the UK and internationally, in workplaces, universities, schools, churches and conferences. Sharon’s passion is sharing with others how and why the person of Jesus Christ remains as relevant as ever to the pertinent questions of our time. She wrote the award-winning book entitled: Why?: Looking at God, evil and personal suffering, was the contributor to best-selling author, Lee Strobel’s book and documentary, The Case for Heaven (Zondervan 2021), and most recently wrote Broken Planet, scientifically answering questions about natural disasters. Dirckx has a Ph.D. in brain imaging from the University of Cambridge.
 
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  Gerald McDermott

  Professor
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Team Members

Gerald McDermott
ProfessorGerald McDermott, Professor, is a retired Anglican Chair of Divinity at Samford’s Beeson Divinity School. Prior to that, he served as Jordan–Trexler Professor of Religion at Roanoke College where he taught for 26 years. His career focuses on Jonathan Edwards, a Christian’s understanding other religions, and the meaning of Israel. Gerald has authored many books, including his award-winning coauthoring of Theology of Jonathan Edwards. He grew up in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. He graduated from the University of Chicago (B.A., New Testament and Early Christian Literature). Gerald started and ran a private school, pastored for five years in Iowa, and earned a Ph.D. in religion at the University of Iowa.
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  Jana Harmon

  Senior Fellow For Christian Apologetics, CSLI
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Team Members

Jana Harmon
Senior Fellow For Christian Apologetics, CSLI
Jana Harmon, Ph.D, is the Senior Fellow For Christian Apologetics for the C.S. Lewis Institute and a Teaching Fellow for C.S. Lewis Institute Atlanta. She serves on the Atlanta Advisory Board and as an Adjunct Professor of Cultural Apologetics at Biola University. Her doctoral research studied the religious conversion of atheists to Christianity looking at the perspectives and stories of 50 former Atheists. She views apologetics through a practical, evangelistic lens. She is the host of the podcast eX-skeptic for the C.S. Lewis Institute. Jana received her PhD from the University of Birmingham, England.
 
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  Keith Hess

  Associate Professor
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Team Members

Keith Hess
Associate Professor
Keith Hess is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Apologetics at Oklahoma Baptist University. He is a philosopher, teacher, and Christian apologist whose research focuses on the philosophy of religion, analytic theology, and personal identity.
 
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  Steven J. Law

  CEO
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Team Members

Steven J. Law
CEO
Steven J. Law is the president and CEO of One Nation and American Crossroads, and President of Crossroads GPS – Spring ’18 with the Institute of Politics and Public Service at Georgetown university. Prior to this, he served as chief the Deputy Secretary at the U.S. Department of Labor. He has held numerous positions in Washington D.C. including Chief of Staff to Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Executive Director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. He has a degree in music from the University of California, Davis, and received a J.D. from Columbia University School of Law.
 
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  Carrie Sheffield

  Podcast Guest
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Team Members



Carrie Sheffield

Podcast Guest

Carrie Sheffield is a journalist, author, and policy analyst. She serves as the Senior Policy Analyst at Independent Women’s Forum. She earned her master’s in public policy from Harvard University and has worked with Goldman Sachs and Moody's Investor's Service. As a journalist she covered congress for The Hill and was a founding reporter at Politico. She's presented regularly on national television and media. She is the author of: Motorhome Prophecies: A Journey of Healing and Forgiveness.
 

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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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  Eugene Peterson

  Professor
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Team Members

Eugene Peterson
Professor
Eugene Peterson, Professor, received his S.T.B. from New York Theological Seminary, and M.A. in Semitic Languages from Johns Hopkins University. At Regent College, Vancouver, B.C. he served as the James M. Houston Professor of Spiritual Theology at Regent and retains the position of Professor Emeritus of Spiritual Theology.  He has authored numerous books, including Run With the Horses, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society, Subversive Spirituality, Five Smooth Stones for Pastoral Work, and, perhaps most well-known, The Message, a contemporary rendering of the Bible in everyday language. In 2020, The Message was released in a single volume containing both Old and New Testaments.
 
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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.