Welcome

Hi! I am Dr. Gerald L. Stevens, retired Distinguished Professor of New Testament and Greek at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. I was able to celebrate my thirty-year anniversary, but missed making my thirty-five year anniversary by only one year, unfortunately. Not long after I began teaching, my students nicknamed me “Dr. Koine” for my first love, which was teaching New Testament Greek, hence my website name.

Teaching Motto

I lived by the motto I tried to drill into my students, “Love the text, and she will love you back.” By this my students knew I meant that a close and continual reading of the biblical text itself, most particularly in the original language, always will reveal more than any exegetical commentary. With a commitment to sound hermeneutical principles, a solid grasp of historical context, and a deep and abiding love for the original text, I challenged my students to find their own voice, as I did (as is so obvious in my own commentaries), so that their preaching and teaching would have the inherent authority of the living Word.

Symposium

In my last semester to teach, my former students and colleagues offered a symposium in my honor featuring academic paper presentations that, along with other essays, will contribute to a festschrift publication in my honor to be published next year. The symposium was conceived, planned, and produced by my former student and good friend, Dr. Ben Skipper, pastor of Carterville Baptist Church, Petal, MS.

Amazing Tidbit

One amazing tidbit about the classroom I have to share—because I think this fact is unmatched by any SBC seminary faculty at any time—is that I never missed a scheduled lecture in thirty-four years of teaching for any reason. Further, every book I ever published (see Publications) was a textbook for the classroom, and each was dedicated to “my students, past, present, and future.” My academic awards, grants, travels, pictures, movies, publications, and technology expertise always had a laser focus on teaching. Much of this research is available through this website (see Educational).

Links

Overview, education, family, music, photography, and Katrina.

Writing, classes, travel, video

Jean, ministry, publications, presentations, and sermons.

Social Media

Tweets by @GeraldLStevens