As many of you now know, our beloved Dr. Doug Kelly, Richard Jordan Professor of Theology, will be retiring May 31, 2016.
Although someone like Dr. Kelly can never really be “replaced,” a press release will be going out today announcing our excitement that D. Blair Smith, a RTS Charlotte grad, will be taking up that position in systematic theology.
Since Blair was a student of Dr. Kelly’s, and has specialized in the same field as Dr. Kelly (patristic theology), we cannot imagine a more fitting successor.
Blair earned a B.S. in Marketing Management and Social Studies from Bob Jones University, and a M.Div. from RTS Charlotte. He earned his Th.M. in Theology from Harvard Divinity School, where he wrote his thesis on “Athanasius’s Trinitarian Theology of Redemption, with Special Reference to the Holy Spirit.”
He is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Historical Theology (Patristics) at Durham University in England under Professor Lewis Ayres, one of the world’s leading patristic scholars. During a portion of his doctoral studies, Blair has served as a Research Visitor at The University of Notre Dame. The working title of his dissertation is “The Fatherhood of God in Fourth-Century Pro-Nicene Trinitarian Theology.””
The retiring Dr. Doug Kelly commented on Blair’s appointment, “I am thrilled that my successor in the chair of Systematic Theology is Blair Smith! He is thoroughly committed to the inerrancy of Scripture, and to the principles of the Reformed Faith, especially as expressed in the Westminster Standards. Blair will combine in his teaching and preaching a high view of Scripture with illumination from the Church Fathers, Reformers and Puritans. It is a great joy for me, as I retire, to leave this solemn task in Blair’s hands.”
Blair is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church in America and served for more than seven years as the Pastor of Adult Education at Fourth Presbyterian Church in Bethesda, MD. Currently he is the Associate Pastor at Michiana Covenant Presbyterian Church near South Bend, IN, where he regularly teaches and preaches. Blair is married to his wife, Lisa, and they have 4 children: Eleanor, Douglas, Lucile, and Graham.
We are very excited that Blair will be joining our faculty starting June 1st.