I am asked all the time about which faculty positions are hardest to fill. Although the answer is debatable, I think that finding solid Old Testament professors is a significant challenge.
There are a variety of reasons for this. One is that there are just fewer of them. In the Reformed world especially, we have many more folks in systematics, historical theology, and church history. But fewer in biblical studies (especially OT).
Beyond sheer numbers, there may be an even bigger reason that solid OT guys are rare. Arguably, the OT is filled with proportionally more historical and theological challenges. Such challenges include the days of Genesis, the question of evolution, the documentary hypothesis, Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch, the authorship/unity of Isaiah, the Canaanite conquest, and much more.
In short, OT studies has a lot of potential pitfalls.
For this reason, I could not be more pleased that RTS Charlotte has recently announced that our newest OT professor is Will Ross.
Will is currently a Cambridge Trust Scholar and Ph.D. candidate in Old Testament at the University of Cambridge, where his work has focused on Septuagint lexicography under the leading scholar Dr. James K. Aitken. He will start at RTS Charlotte on January 1st, 2019.
Before that, Will earned his M.Div. from Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia where he was also a teaching assistant to Greg Beale.
Will has been published in several leading academic journals, including Novum Testamentum, Biblica, and Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft, and recently co-authored Septuaginta: A Reader’s Edition (Hendrickson, 2018) with Dr. Gregory R. Lanier of RTS Orlando (and it is only $109!).
But, Will is not just a scholar. Like all our RTS professors, Will also brings a deep commitment to Reformed theology and a love for the church. This combination embodies the RTS ethos: ‘a mind for truth, and a heart for God.’
We are also excited to have his wife, Kelli, join us. She has a degree in biblical counseling which is a great fit with our MACC degree here. They also have three boys named Amos, Lucas, and Samuel.
We will also miss our outgoing OT Professor, John Currid. John has not retired but transitioned to a new role as Chancellor’s professor. Thus, we are pleased that he will still be teaching occasional classes in Charlotte. He has been a tremendous blessing to our students over many years.