Education
B.A. Hope College, M.Div. Western Theological Seminary, S.T.M., Ph.D. Union Theological Seminary (New York)
Bob.VanVoorst@westernsem.edu
Courses
BF100 New Testament Greek
BF101 New Testament Translation and Interpretation
BF102 New Testament Life and Witness
BF530 Letter to the Romans
BF533 Gospel According to Mark
BF534 Acts of the Apostles
BF541 Letters to the Philippians and Galatians
BF613 Greek Reading
TF631 Christianity and Popular Culture
TF632 Christianity and World Religions
The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ witnessed by the New Testament is the foundation of the Christian faith. The health of the church in every age, and the effectiveness of its ministers, is directly related to how well it builds on this biblical foundation in interpretation, teaching, and preaching. Teaching the New Testament to Western students preparing for various ministries is a high calling and a stimulating, rewarding experience.
Background
Ordained in the RCA, Bob Van Voorst served for twelve years as the pastor of Rochester Reformed Church in Accord, New York, while he pursued doctoral study. In 1989 he became a professor of religion at Lycoming College, a United Methodist liberal arts college, and served for three years as chair of its religion department. While teaching college, he was an interim pastor in four Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) congregations, preached widely in north-central Pennsylvania, and was a visiting professor in Westminster College in Oxford, England.
At Western, Dr. Van Voorst teaches courses in New Testament language and literature, in world religions, and in Christianity and popular culture. He serves as the editor of the Reformed Review, Western's theological journal, and maintains an active schedule of preaching and teaching in Michigan churches. He has written frequently on theology and ministry in the Reformed Review and the Church Herald. Dr. Van Voorst has also authored seven books, including the textbooks, Building Your New Testament Greek Vocabulary (third edition), Readings in Christianity (second edition), Anthology of World Scriptures (fifth edition), Anthology of Asian Scriptures, and Reading the New Testament Today. The Ascents of James is a recovery and commentary on a second-century Jewish-Christian text; Jesus Outside the New Testament examines traditions about Jesus from pagan, Jewish, and Christian documents before and after the New Testament; this book has been published in Italian. Dr. Van Voorst has contributed to recent reference works such as the Eerdmans Bible Commentary, the Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible, and Jesus in History, Thought and Culture. Currently he is working on a major commentary on Galatians for the Eerdmans Critical Commentary series.