Interview with Timothy George

How did you personally first become interested in the Reformation and the reformers? Why are they so important in your own teaching and pastoral ministry?

I grew up in Chattanooga, Tennessee and was baptized by Dr. Lee Roberson, a wonderful independent Baptist pastor.  I imbibed the best of that tradition along with a kind of raw, rural, no-holds-barred Southern Baptist fundamentalism.  I am grateful for those dear saints who introduced me to Jesus Christ, taught me to love God’s Word and to take seriously the evangelistic mission of the church.  However, there were some significant gaps in my spiritual upbringing including any appreciation for the Word of God across the ages.  We sort of had the idea that we had received our faith from grandma, or Uncle Robert, and that they had received theirs directly from Jesus.  We were not much aware of anything in between.

I first began to take the Reformation seriously through my study of history.  I majored in history as an undergraduate at the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga where I had some superb teachers, including Dr. William J. Wright, a student of Harold Grimm.  Bill Wright and other teachers at UTC made history, and especially the era of the Reformation, come alive for me.  Then at Harvard I was privileged to study with other great scholars of the Reformation including David Steinmetz, Heiko Oberman, and George Huntston Williams.  They all inspired me to dig deeply into Reformation theology.

Why should Christians read the reformers today?

In a way, this is like asking why scientists should engage the work of Copernicus, Newton, or Einstein, or why philosophers should know something about Plato, Aristotle, Descartes and Kant.  The simple answer is: it would be the height of irresponsibility not to do so.  The Reformation is one of the epochal moments in the history of God’s people and believers today ignore it at their peril.  Many of the struggles in the sixteenth century are with us still and we do well to attend to the reformers’ recovery of the Gospel in their day for it will help us to be faithful in our own. . . .

READ THE REST OF THIS INTERVIEW IN THE OCTOBER ISSUE OF CREDO MAGAZINE!

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The October issue, “The Living Word,” is now available!

Is Scripture inspired by God or is it merely the work of man? Peter writes, “For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Pet 1:21). The October issue of Credo seeks to affirm the inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture as doctrines that are faithful to the testimony of Scripture itself. Contributors include: Gregg Allison, John Frame, Timothy George, Fred Zaspel, Michael A.G. Haykin, Tim Challies, Matthew Barrett, Thomas Schreiner, Tony Merida, Owen Strachan, J. V. Fesko, Robert Saucy, and many others.

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