Campus Directory

To request Dr. Kapic to speak at a church, conference, or other event, please fill out this form and email it directly here.

On faculty since 2001

 

706.419.1607
kelly.kapic@covenant.edu

 

Education

PhD, Systematic and Historical Theology, King's College, University of London, 2001

MDiv, Reformed Theological Seminary, 1998

BA, Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL, 1995

 

Professional Interests

I strongly believe that theology is not simply for academics, but for all of God's people. It is meant to be a liberating joy, not a deadening burden. In my opinion, theology matters to all Christians because it is ultimately about worship. We engage in theological reflection because we are concerned that our worship would faithfully be directed to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has given us his Spirit. Thus, good theology is central to what we do at Covenant College.

 

My long-term professional goals have included both teaching and writing. Through teaching I enthusiastically aim to equip future Church leaders, missionaries, professionals, and other lay-people to serve Christ in the church and world. Through research and writing I hope to provide accessible scholarship which is theologically rich, textured with the past, relevant to the present and helpful for the future. This includes writing in the areas of systematic, historical, and practical theology.

 

As background, I have poured many years of my life into studying the theology of John Owen (1616-1683), believing that time spent working through his thought would provide not just important historical background, but also a theological grounding from one of the greatest theologians Britain ever produced. I have not been disappointed.

 

While most of my early publications focused on Owen's theology, much of my ongoing research and writing is more constructive in nature. I have a great interest in contemporary theology, with a special concern to see connections between Christology, the Trinity, and anthropology. I am also deeply driven by pastoral theology.

 

Besides teaching, I am probably most excited about producing writings aimed at a broader audience than merely academics. My strong desire is that these contributions might be both theologically nuanced and pastorally sensitive. I am driven by the core conviction that we don’t need to choose between orthodoxy theology and compassionate concern—we can and should aim for both.

 

I also have received several grants that have allowed me to work with psychologists, philosophers, and others. Our goal has been to engage in meaningful interdisciplinary work. This has included, for example, studies on “grace” and also on “suffering and meaning-making” funded by the Templeton Foundation.

 

Covenant Activities

• Member, advisor, and previous Chairperson of the Chapel Committee (2001-2006)
• Member of the Curriculum Committee (2006-2010)
• Faculty Sponsor and Advisor of student-led Augustine's Forum (2001-2005)
• Biblical and Theological Studies Department Secretary (2003-2010)
• Athletic Committee (2011-2014)
• Member and occasional chair of the Core Oversight Committee (2015-2021)

 

Select Books

• Kelly M. Kapic, A Theology of the Christian Life, in New Studies in Dogmatics Series, ed. Michael Allen and Scott Swain (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Academic, manuscript due Dec. 2022).
• Kelly M. Kapic, You’re Only Human: How Your Limits Reflect God’s Design and Why That’s Good News (Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, forthcoming Jan. 2022).
• Kelly M. Kapic and Willem van Vlastuin, eds. John Owen Between Orthodoxy and Modernity (Leiden: Koninklijke Brill, 2019).
• Kelly M. Kapic and Brian Fikkert, A Field Guide to Becoming Whole: Principles for Poverty Alleviation Ministries (Chicago: Moody Publishers, Sept. 2019).
• Kelly M. Kapic and Brian Fikkert, Becoming Whole: Why the Opposite of Poverty is Not the American Dream (Chicago: Moody Publishers, March 2019). Audio version available.
• Kelly M. Kapic with Justin Borger, The God Who Gives: How the Trinity Shapes the Christian Story (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Academic, 2018). Audio version of earlier edition available.
• Kelly M. Kapic and Hans Madueme, ed., Reading Christian Theology in the Protestant Tradition (T & T Clark // Bloomsbury: New York//London, 2018).
• Kelly M. Kapic, Embodied Hope: A Theological Meditation on Pain and Suffering (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2017). This volume won 2017 Book of the Year award from Christianity Today for the category of Theology and Ethics. It was also chosen for the 2018 Accessible Theology Book of the Year Awards “Short List” for World Magazine. Translated into Korean. Audio version available.
• Kelly M. Kapic, ed., Sanctification: Explorations in Theology and Practice (Downers Grove, IVP Academic, 2014).
• Kelly M. Kapic and Wesley Vander Lugt, Pocket Dictionary of the Reformed Tradition (IVP: Downers Grove, 2013). Translated into Korean.
• Kelly M. Kapic and Mark Jones, eds. Ashgate Research Companion to John Owen (Aldershot: Routledge/Ashgate, hardcover edition 2012; softcover edition, 2015).
• Kelly M. Kapic, A Little Book for New Theologians: Why and How to Study Theology (IVP: Downers Grove, 2012). Currently translated or being translated into a number of languages, including Arabic, Korean, Romanian, Portuguese, Indonesian, Farsi, and French. Audio version available.
• Kelly M. Kapic and Bruce McCormack, ed., Mapping Modern Theology: A Thematic and Historical Introduction (Grand Rapids, Baker Academic, 2012). Translated into Korean.
• Kelly M. Kapic with Justin Borger, God So Loved He Gave: Entering the Movement of Divine Generosity (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010). Audio version available.
• Kelly M. Kapic, Communion with God: The Divine and the Human in John Owen’s Theology (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007).
• Kelly M. Kapic and Justin Taylor, ed. Communion with the Triune God: A Classic work by John Owen (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2007). Translated into Portuguese.
• Kelly M. Kapic and Justin Taylor, ed. Overcoming Sin and Temptation: Three Classic Works by John Owen (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2006). Translated into Simplified Chinese Script, Portuguese, Russian.
• Kelly M. Kapic and Randall Gleason, ed. The Devoted Life: An Invitation to the Puritan Classics (IVP: Downers Grove, 2004, and IVP: UK, Nottingham). Translated into Korean.

 

Articles, Book Chapters, and Essays*

• Kelly M. Kapic, M. Elizabeth Lewis Hall, Grace E. Lee, Jason McMartin, Alexis Abernethy, Laura Shannonhouse, Crystal Park, Jamie Aten, Eric Silverman, “Testimony and Meaning: A Qualitative Study of Black Women with Cancer Diagnoses,” Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology (accepted Feb. 21, 2021, forthcoming).
• Kelly M. Kapic, “Retrieving Owen,” in T & T Clark Companion to John Owen, eds. Crawford Gibben and John Tweeddale (London: Bloomsbury, submitted June, 2020).
• Kelly M. Kapic, “John Owen in the Theology of Colin Gunton,” in T & T Clark Companion to Colin Gunton, eds. Myk Habets and Andrew Picard (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2021).
• Kelly M. Kapic, Steven L. Porter, Ruth Haley Barton, Richard Peace, Diane J. Chandler, Siang Yang Tan, and James C. Wilhoit, “Teach Me What I Do Not See: Lessons for the Church from a Global Pandemic,” Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care, (March 2021),  https://doi.org/10.1177/1939790921992604.
• Kelly M. Kapic, “Sixth Sunday: Is the Cross Enough?”, in Suffering & Glory: Meditations for Holy Week and Easter, The best of Christianity Today (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2021), 142-153.
• Kelly M. Kapic, “The Power of the Christian Quad: Why We Still Need Christian Colleges,” Christianity Today, (Oct. 2019) vol. 63, No. 7, 40-45.  Reprinted and reposted in various places, including by the CCCU online and in their magazine.
• ________, “John Owen’s Theological Spirituality: Navigating Perceived Threats in a Changing World,” in John Owen Between Orthodoxy and Modernity, eds. Kelly M. Kapic and Willem van Vlastuin (Leiden: Koninklijke Brill, 2019).
• ________, “Has Academic Theology Lost its Way,” Christianity Today, online article posted Mar. 22, 2019.
• ________, “The Place and Purpose of the Law/Gospel Distinction in Reformed Theology and Ministry,” in God’s Two Words: Law and Gospel in Lutheran and Reformed Traditions, ed. Jonathan Linebaugh (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2018), 129-151.
• ________, “Faith in Formulae: A Collection of Early Christian Creeds and Creed-related Texts Essay review,” in Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, Vol. 61: No. 2 (June 2018), 428-433
• ________, “Learning to Value Limits: A Brief Bibliographical Reflection,” in Didaktikos: Journal of Theological Education, Vol. 1: 3 (Mar. 2018), 38-40.
• Kapic, Kelly M., Robert A. Emmons, Justin L. Barrett, and Peter C. Hill, “Psychological and Theological Reflections on Grace and its Relevance for Science and Practice” in Psychology of Religion and Spirituality (American Psychological Association), 2017, Vol. 9, No. 3. 276-284.
• Kelly M. Kapic, “John Owen on the Atonement,” in T & T Clark Companion to the Atonement (London: T & T Clark, 2017), 659-664.
• ________, How Worship Affirms our Humanity: Exploring the Psychology and Theology of Worship, short eBook, with Evan Rosa as managing editor, Matthew Sheean as illustrator (La Mirada: Biola University CCT, The Table, 2016).
• ________, “Trinitarische spiritualiteit behoedt voor uitwassen,” trans. Willem van Klinken, in Reformatorisch Dagblad, 46e jaargang, Nr. 130 (1 Dept. 2016), 6-7.
• ________, “Theological Anthropology,” in Christian Dogmatics, edited by Michael Allen and Scott Swain (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2015), 165-193.
• ________, “Sinlessness of Christ,” “Canons of Dort,” “Cotton Mather,” “Increase Mather,” and “John Owen,” in New Dictionary of Theology: Historical and Systematic, Second Ed., ed. (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2016), s.v.
• Kelly M. Kapic, Tim Morris, and Matthew Vos, “The Self: An Interdisciplinary Discussion,” Modern Reformation, Vol. 24, No. 5, Sept/Oct. 2015, 34-49.  As a supplement to the article, the journal also hosted a discussion with all three of us, posting it online after the essay was published.
• Kapic, Kelly M., “Scripture” and “Communion with God,” contracted essays for two different Study Bibles from ESV (Wheaton: Crossway, 2017 and 2016, respectively).
• ________, “Theological Aesthetics: Some Reflections on Michael Bird’s Evangelical Theology,” Southeastern Theological Review 06:2 (Winter 2015), 185-194.
• ________, “A Kingdom of Priests,” Tabletalk vol. 39 No. 8 (August 2015), 74-75.
• ________, “Systematic Theology and Spiritual Formation: Encouraging Faithful Participation Among God’s People,” Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care (Fall 2014), Vol. 7, No. 2, 191-202.
• Kelly M. Kapic and Matthew S. Vos, “Those Who Mourn,” Cultural Encounters: A Journal for the Theology of Culture, Vol. 10:1, (2014), 89-94.
• Kelly M. Kapic, “Faith, Hope, and Love: A Theological Meditation on Suffering and Sanctification,” in Sanctification: Explorations in Theology and Practice, Kelly M. Kapic, ed. (Downers Grove, IVP Academic, 2014).
• ________, “Spirit Formed Communities,” Modern Reformation, Vol. 23, issue 5, Sept/Oct, 2014.
• ________, “Commentary on Isaiah,” in The Gospel Transformation Bible, edited by Bryan Chapell (Downers Grove: Crossway, 2013). 861-951.
• ________, “Atonement,” in Evangelical Dictionary of Theology: New Edition (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2017), 97-100.
• ________, “How Then Should We Love?” Tabletalk vol. 37: No. 10 (Oct. 2013), 64-65.
• ________, “The Spirit as Gift: Explorations in John Owen’s Pneumatology,” in Ashgate Research Companion to John Owen, edited by Kelly M. Kapic and Mark Jones (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2012), 113-140.
• ________, "Typology, the Messiah, and John Owen’s Theological Reading of Hebrews," in Christology and Hermeneutics: Hebrews as an Interdisciplinary Case Study, edited by Dan Treier and Jon Laansma (London: T & T Clark/Continuum, 2012), 136-155.
• ________, “Anthropology,” in Mapping Modern Theology: A Thematic and Historical Introduction, edited by Kelly M. Kapic and Bruce McCormack (Grand Rapids, Baker Academic, 2012), 121-148.
• ________, “Psalm 22: Forsakenness and the God who Sings,” in Theological Commentary: Evangelical Perspectives, edited by Michael Allen (London: T & T Clark, 2011), 41-56.
• ________, “Forum on Reading the Puritans,” SBTJ (Winter, 2010), vol. 14: No. 2, 106-108.
• ________, “‘Evangelical Holiness’: Assumptions in John Owen’s Theology of Christian Spirituality,” in Life in the Spirit: Spiritual Formation in Theological Perspective, edited by Jeffrey P. Greenman and George Kalantzis (Downers Grove: IVP, 2010), 97-114.
• ________, “Review # 3.  Knowing the Triune Creator: Reflections on Dallas Willard’s Knowing Christ Today” in Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care (2009), Vol. 2, No. 2, 245–285, my essay is pp. 256-264.  Willard’s response to my essay is primarily found on pp. 275-277.
• Kelly M. Kapic, response to Tim Cooper, “State of the Field: ‘John Owen Unleashed: Almost,’” Conversations in Religion and Theology, 6:2 (2008), 226-257, my response is on 250-257.
• Kelly M. Kapic, “Worshiping the Triune God: The Shape of John Owen’s Trinitarian Spirituality,” in Communion with the Triune God: A Classic work by John Owen, edited by Kelly M. Kapic and Justin Taylor (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2007), 17-46. 
• ________, “John Owen (1616-1683),” in Dictionary of Major Biblical Interpreters, ed. Donald McKim (Downers Grove: IVP, 2007), 795-799.
• Kelly M. Kapic and Wesley Vander Lugt, “The Ascension of Jesus and the Descent of the Holy Spirit in Patristic Perspective: A Theological Reading,” Evangelical Quarterly (LXXIX, 1 Jan. 2007), 23-33.
• Kelly M. Kapic, “Life in the Midst of Battle: John Owen’s Approach to Sin, Temptation, and the Christian Life,” in Overcoming Sin and Temptation: Three Classic Works by John Owen, ed. Kelly M. Kapic and Justin Taylor, ed. (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2006), 23-35.
• Kelly M. Kapic and Randall C. Gleason, “A Brief History of English Puritanism,” in Meet the Puritans: With a Guide to Modern Puritan Reprints, Joel R. Beeke and Randall J. Pederson (Reformation Heritage Books: Grand Rapids, 2006), 3-9.
• Kelly M. Kapic, “Are We There Yet: An Exploration of Romans 8,” Modern Reformation, Vol. 15, Num. 4, (July/Aug 2006), 22-27.
• ________, “Receiving Christ’s Priestly Benediction: A Biblical, Historical, and Theological Exploration of Luke 24:50-53,” Westminster Theological Journal, 67:2 (Fall 2005), 247-60.
• ________, “Trajectories of a Trinitarian Eschatology,” in Trinitarian Soundings in Systematic Theology, ed. Paul Metzger (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 2005), pp. 189-202.
• Kelly M. Kapic and Randall Gleason, “Who were the Puritans?” in The Devoted Life: An Invitation to the Puritan Classics, Kelly M. Kapic and Randall Gleason, ed., (IVP: Downers Grove, 2004), pp. 15-37.
• Kelly M. Kapic, “Communion with God by John Owen (1616-1683)” in The Devoted Life: An Invitation to the Puritan Classics, Kelly M. Kapic and Randall Gleason, ed., (IVP: Downers Grove, 2004), pp. 167-182.
• ________, “The Son’s Assumption of a Human Nature: A Call for Clarity.” International Journal of Systematic Theology, 3:2 (July, 2001): 154-166.
• ________, “Communion with God: Relations between the Divine and the Human in the Theology of John Owen,” Ph.D. dissertation, King’s College, University of London, June 2001.
• ________, “The Humanity of Christ: Looking at Jesus, Ourselves, and Pastoral Ministry.”  Foundations, (45, Autumn 2000): 28-36.

 

*Book Reviews have not been included in above list. Journals for which I have written reviews include The Journal of Theological Studies (Oxford), Theology Today, Church History, Religious Studies Review, Journal of Reformed Theology, Christian Scholars Review, Westminster Theological Journal, Cultural Encounters: A Journal for the Theology of Culture, Themelios, Presbyterion, etc.

 

*I serve as a contributing editor for the journal Cultural Encounters: A Journal for the Theology of Culture (2003-present) and on the Board of Editorial Consultants for the Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care (2015-present).

 

*I have also served as a peer reviewer on academic articles and book manuscripts for various journals and publishers, from Cambridge University Press to Baker Academic. 

 

*Additionally, I have served in Australia, America, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands as an outside examiner for PhD students, reviewing their dissertations.

 

*Academic Presentations have not been included in the above list.  I have given presentations at universities in New Zealand, the Netherlands, Cambridge, London, Birmingham (UK), Edinburgh, Australia, and throughout the United States.  Public lectures given have taken place in various situations, from giving plenary addresses to speaking at Churches, from involvement in small colloquiums of scholars to speaking at a hospital conference on suffering. I have also been heavily involved in interdisciplinary research, especially with psychologists, sociologists, and historians.

 

 

---

 

Dr. Kelly Kapic | audio archive