About

I grew up in southeastern Washington State on the banks of the Columbia River. I first attended church at the age of 10 and fell in love with the Bible at that time. I also became fascinated with Greek in Vacation Bible School that summer when we traced the Greek alphabet as part of our study of the life of Paul. By the time I was in junior high school I was active in a small inter-denominational mission and headed towards full time ministry. Over the years I have been involved in many branches of the Church. Since 1999 I have been an ordained member of the Reformed Episcopal Church and also licensed to serve in the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh.

My formal training includes a Bachelor’s degree in Biblical and Theological Studies from Gordon College, a Master of Theological Studies from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D. from Cambridge University. I have also been awarded an honorary D.D. from Cranmer Theological House. My doctoral dissertation was published by Scholars Press (now SBL Press) under the title Johannine Polemic: The Role of Tradition and Theology. My other publications include the volume on John’s Gospel in the InterVarsity Press New Testament Commentary and several books on Greek, listed on this website.

I taught basic Greek while a student at Gordon-Conwell from 1973 to 1976 and then was Director of the Greek Language Program at Gordon-Conwell from 1981 to 1983. I went on to teach Greek and New Testament at Trinity School for Ministry in Ambridge, Pennsylvania from 1983 to my retirement in 2015. Since then I have continued to teach basic Greek at Trinity, developing material for A Grammar of New Testament Greek and Learning Greek Passage by Passage.

My wife Margaret and I were married in 1972. We have two children and four grandchildren. My hobbies include playing guitar and ukulele, and dabbling in chess.

Rod went singing home to God on May 22, 2023.