KANSAS CITY, Mo—Midwestern Seminary celebrates the addition of John D. Meade and Peter J. Gurry to full-time faculty. Serving as professor of Old Testament and associate professor of New Testament, respectively, Meade and Gurry will join the seminary community on the Kansas City campus beginning in the fall 2025 semester.
“No theological institution rises higher than the caliber of its faculty, and with the additions of John Meade and Peter Gurry to our already first-class faculty, it is a tremendous step forward and well positions Midwestern Seminary for years to come,” said President Jason Allen. “In God’s kind providence, He has assembled a new and supremely gifted generation of scholars on this campus. I cannot be more proud of the men and women who teach here, and no more grateful for the additions of Meade and Gurry.”
Allen went on to say, “At the very heart of a theological institution is its biblical studies department. The opportunity to add these two young, gifted, and proven faculty members to our already sterling biblical studies department was simply too good to pass up. We are genuinely grateful to God for His ongoing blessing on Midwestern Seminary, for the incredible men and women called to serve here. John Meade and Peter Gurry represent so much of what a president looks for when adding faculty to a theological institution. They are men of character, devoted churchmen, exemplary husbands and fathers, accomplished scholars with even higher ceilings. Both are driven to serve the local church and to train those who will serve the local church. Most especially, Meade and Gurry’s ongoing efforts to explain and defend the inerrant Scriptures has already made a major contribution to the 21st-century church. I look forward to seeing their influence grow and their strengthening of the Church extend and expand for years to come.”
As leading scholars in text criticism and the history of the canon, Meade and Gurry currently serve at Phoenix Seminary where they teach courses in Old and New Testament, biblical Greek and Hebrew, and biblical theology. They also co-direct the Text & Canon Institute.
In 2022, Meade and Gurry coauthored Scribes and Scripture: The Amazing Story of How We Got the Bible. The book has undergone multiple printings and garnered various accolades, being named a finalist in the Bible Reference category for the 2023 Christian Book Awards.
The presence of Gurry and Meade on Midwestern Seminary’s faculty highlights the institution’s commitment to equipping students to know, teach, and defend God’s Word for the benefit of the Church.
“A commitment to biblical studies and biblical languages has long served as the core of the Midwestern Seminary curriculum,” said Provost Jason Duesing. “The addition of John Meade and Peter Gurry signals, all the more, the continuation of that commitment. Training men and women to trust in the truthfulness of Scripture and study it in the original languages is the foundation of our vision to send out a new generation of leaders and missionaries for the Church.”
Reflecting on his new role, Meade shared, “As professor, I hope to continue training pastors and teachers how to study and teach the Bible at the deep level required today. The culture’s questions over the Bible’s history and interpretation are not becoming simpler to answer. Our pastors and teachers need deeper, not shallower, training in these areas if they are to be faithful to the gospel of Christ.”
Gurry added, “Besides their own questions, our students will find that many of the people they serve have difficult but honest questions about how we received the Bible. I hope my work can provide them with reliable and informed answers that strengthen their trust in the Scriptures.”
Through their scholarship and leadership of the Text & Canon Institute, Gurry and Meade have equipped and trained scholars, pastors, and laypeople around the world to better understand the formation of Scripture. The Text & Canon Institute hosts conferences, conducts research, and provides online resources reaching visitors from countries including the United States, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Colombia, and Brazil.
Highlighting why the history of the Bible matters for the Church today, Gurry said, “Christians rightly treasure the Bible as God’s special revelation to us. But too often, even those who love the Bible take for granted that we have such easy access to it. Understanding how the Bible has been copied, canonized, and translated encourages us to appreciate it, trust it, read it, and, I hope, obey it.”
Meade pointed to the significance of this work for Southern Baptists, adding, “As Baptists, we are also Protestants who affirm sola Scriptura; that is, Scripture is our final authority on matters of faith and practice. Furthermore, the Word created the Church. Thus, we must understand how we have come to possess that Word.”
Meade’s interest in the history of the Bible began in his Hebrew exegesis courses at Columbia International University, where he received his B.A. He went on to receive an M.Div. and Ph.D. from Southern Seminary, where his studies of Old Testament manuscripts became a means of serving the Church.
“I was receiving questions from Protestants about how the canon of Scripture was formed,” Meade said. “That is, how did Protestants receive the Bible with its 66 books? As a Christian researcher, I had to know how and when the canon was formed to provide answers for the Church.”
Likewise reflecting on how God led him to biblical studies, Gurry shared, “Bible college fueled my interest in understanding the process that produces readable, accessible English Bible translations from hundreds of hand-made Greek manuscripts.” After receiving his B.A. from Moody Bible Institute, Gurry earned a Th.M. from Dallas Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge.
Peter J. Williams, principal and CEO of Tyndale House, Cambridge, expressed his excitement for Gurry and Meade to serve at Midwestern Seminary. “To have the work of Dr. Peter Gurry and Dr. John Meade—exceptional scholars in textual criticism and the history of the canon—based at Midwestern Seminary is yet another win for one of the premier seminaries in the world,” he said.
He went on to say, “Dr. Peter Gurry and Dr. John Meade are a formidable team, gifted in both scholarship and public communication. Between them, their expertise enables them to address accurately and with authority the most pressing questions that both students and laypeople have about how the Scriptures came together and have been handed down.”
Meade and Gurry also shared their excitement to pursue their scholarship alongside Midwestern Seminary’s faculty. Meade said, “Everything we research, publish, teach, and preach is for the Church. I’m so glad to be joining a seminary that boldly and unapologetically says it.”
Gurry added, “I love the range of expertise represented by the faculty. It’s a gift to teach alongside those who are experts in different fields of study.”
To learn more about this announcement, visit mbts.edu/gurry-meade.
