Donny R. Mathis II, PhD

“My mission is to teach my students how to interpret the Bible accurately so that they can develop a distinctly biblical worldview that will enable them to engage the world with God’s truth in any vocation where God places them.”

• Teaching & Education

  You will learn with me when taking courses in New Testament (Survey, Life and Teachings of Christ, Mark, John, Acts, Galatians, Prison Epistles, and Revelation), New Testament Greek, Hermeneutics, Spiritual Formation, and Theological Research.

  Degrees

  • BSME, University of Kentucky
  • MDiv, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
  • PhD, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
• Professional Experience

  My experience includes teaching for 5 years at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and Boyce College. I have taught at North Greenville University since 2005.

• Selected Publications
  • Romans. Concise Bible Commentary. The Gospel Coalition, Forthcoming.
  • New Testament Editor. CSB Seven Arrows Bible: The How-to-Study Bible for Students (Nashville: B&H Kids, 2019)
  • Seven Arrows: Aiming Bible Readers in the Right Direction (Spring Hill, TN: Rainer, 2017) with Matt Rogers
  • “What is the Pauline Gospel?” in The Anderson Journal of Christian Studies, Fall/Winter 2014
  • “Gospel” and “The Prodigal Son” in The Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary. Revised and Expanded (Nashville: Holman Reference, 2015).
  • “‘Signs and Wonders’: Echoes of Deuteronomy in the Summaries and Speeches of Acts 1-15,” presented to the Evangelical Theological Society, Annual Meeting, 2019
  • “The Prophetic Nature of Paul’s Call and its Implications for the Presence of the Restoration from Exile Theme in Galatians,” presented to the Evangelical Theological Society, Annual Meeting, 2004
  • “The Promise of Abraham and the Exile of Israel in Galatians 3:1-14,” presented to the Evangelical Theological Society, Annual Meeting, 2000
• Selected Awards Received
  • 1997 – American Bible Society Award for Outstanding Achievement in Biblical Studies
  • May 1994 – Graduated as the Valedictorian, Mechanical Engineering Class, University of Kentucky
  • Corning Outstanding Mechanical Engineering Junior, University of Kentucky
  • Pi Tau Sigma Outstanding Mechanical Engineering Sophomore, University of Kentucky
• My Network

  I will gladly involve you in my circle that includes: Dr. Tom Schreiner who served as my Doctoral Supervisor during my time at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and remains a friend. I also have several classmates who are now teaching at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Additionally, I have numerous friends and former students who are serving in churches and seminaries all over the United States and across the globe.

• My Story

  During my sophomore year at the University of Kentucky where I was majoring in Mechanical Engineering, I knew that God was calling me to vocational Christian service. Since I grew up as a Pastor’s kid, I initially thought that God was calling me to serve the local church as a Pastor. After graduating from UK, I began my Master of Divinity studies at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS) to pursue that calling. During my first semester at SBTS, two things happened that changed the trajectory of where God’s call was going to take me. First, I took Elementary Greek and discovered that God had wired me to love studying the language of the New Testament. Second, Dr. James Blevins, my New Testament Professor, wrote on one of my exams that I should follow in the path of A. T. Robertson, perhaps the greatest Southern Baptist New Testament scholar ever, and give my life to studying the New Testament. He may have written that note on every test paper, but God used that note of encouragement as the nudge that I needed to take more classes with Dr. Blevins, become his teaching fellow, and then one of his last doctoral students. Even though his declining health did not allow me to complete my dissertation under his mentorship, I would not be here today without the interest that he took in me during my first semester in seminary. After completing my PhD, God gave me the unbelievable opportunity to serve at NGU. Over the last fifteen years, I pray that God has given me the ability to encourage, challenge, and mentor the young men and women who come here to prepare for the calling that God has placed upon their lives whether in vocational Christian service or in any other realm of life. Over the last few years, God has also kindled in me a passion to come alongside of not only my students but also my colleagues in an effort to help them pursue new levels of excellence in viewing their disciplines through the lens of a biblical worldview so that our university will be able to educate greater multitudes of women and men who will transform the church and society by living on mission for Christ through faithfulness in the church and excellence in the workplace.

  Favorite Course to Teach:

  New Testament Greek

• Related Links

  Explore more resources related to this field of study:

  • Evangelical Theological Society
  • Institute for Biblical Research