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Jerry Root
Adjunct Professor of Christian Formation & Ministry
On faculty since 1996

Phone: (630) 752-5912
E-Mail: Jerry.Root@wheaton.edu
Education

2004 Ph.D., British Open University. Thesis: C. S. Lewis and the Problem of Evil: A Pervasive Theme. Supervisors: Basil Mitchell. Lyle Dorsett. Sponsoring Agency: Oxford Centre for Mission Studies

1978 M.Div., Talbot Graduate School of Theology. La Mirada, California

1973 B.A., Whittier College. Whittier, California

 
Professional and Personal Interests

Jerry was born and raised in Southern California. He grew up in a Christian family but did not become a Christian until his freshman year at Whittier College. He was deeply influenced by the ministries of Campus Crusade for Christ and Granada Heights Friends Church in La Mirada, California. Jerry's sister Kathy introduced him to the writings of C. S. Lewis while he was still an undergraduate. Upon graduation from college he selected Lewis as an author who would take him to other authors and has made of him a life study. The concept that graduation from college is "Commencement" has meant that only a foundation for learning is established through formal education after which one commences his/her liberal arts education.

He pastored three different churches over twenty-three years. Nineteen of those years were invested in student ministry, and for four years he served as a senior pastor. While pastoring he taught courses in Philosophy and on C. S. Lewis for ten years at the College of Du Page in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. He has served on the Adjunct Faculty at Biola University since 1991, teaching courses on Lewis. He has been teaching at Wheaton College since 1996.

Jerry has lectured or preached in 14 countries: Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, England, France, Ireland, Mexico, Romania, Slovakia, Sudan, Switzerland, Uganda, Ukraine. He has also lectured or preached in 19 States: California, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia, Wisconsin.  Jerry has  traveled to 31 countries and 3 continents.



Courses Taught
  • CE 121 Intro to Christian Education
  • CE 231 Intro to Evangelism
  • CE 434 Evangelism and Renewal
  • CE 457 Christian Proclamation
  • CE 459 C. S. Lewis and Christianity
  • EVAN 531 Theology of Evangelism
  • EVAN 542 Strategies for Contemporary Evangelism
  • EVAN 545 Principles and Methods of Evangelism
  • (Click here to view department syllabi--past and current.)

Membership in Professional Societies
  • NAPCE North American Professors of Christian Education
  • ETS (Evangelical Theological Society)-past member

Research
  • C.S. Lewis topics
  • Evangelism and Spiritual Formation (including Christian Mysticism)

Papers Published and/or Presented

Books:

  • 1990 The Quotable C. S. Lewis. Ed. with Wayne Martindale. Wheaton, Illinois: Tyndale House.
 Study Guides and Booklets:
  • 1990 Friendship Evangelism. With Claudia Root. Wheaton, Illinois: Harold Shaw.
  • 1983 Leader’s Guide for How to Help a Friend. With Claudia Root. Wheaton, Illinois: Tyndale House.

Select Chapters and Articles Contributed to Other Books (by request of the editors): 

  • 2001 “Evangelism and Discipleship” Christian Education in the New Millennium. Michael Anthony, ed. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books.
  • 2001 “C. S. Lewis”, “The Resurrection”. Baker Dictionary of Christian Education. Warren Benson and Michael Anthony, ed. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books.
  • 2001 “The Cloud of Unknowing”, “Justin Martyr”, “The Theology of Marriage”, “Universalism”. The New Baker Dictionary of Theology. Walter Elwell, ed. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books.
  • 1998 “Tools Inadequate and Incomplete: C. S. Lewis and the Great Religions”. The Pilgrim’s Guide: C. S. Lewis and the Art of Witness. David Mills ed. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans. [Reprinted in The Anglican Digest. Vol. 41, No. 2. Easter 1999].

Select Articles Published in Periodicals, Journals, Magazines and Papers:

  • 2003 “How do I find Healing?” Revolutionary: The Magazine of Camp Eagle. Summer 2003.

Select C. S. Lewis Papers, Presentations, Lectures:

  • 2003 Biola University/Talbot School of Theology. Lecture June 5. An Apologetic for the Heart, the Imagination and the Head: Ideas Implicit in the Work of C. S. Lewis.
  • 2003 C. S. Lewis Foundation Regional Retreat Discovering Reality With C. S. Lewis The Cove Asheville, North Carolina. February 21-23 (Three Lectures: Aslan, You’re Bigger! Reality is Iconoclastic; Big Ideas in C. S. Lewis’s Apologetics; The Idea of Longing in C. S. Lewis).

Faculty continued: Daniel Haase