Email: [email protected]
First Year at Gordon-Conwell: 1993
Expertise: Church History; Christian Spirituality
Biography:
Gwenfair Walters Adams (Ph.D., University of Cambridge) is the Professor of Church History and Spiritual Formation, Director of Life Together (the Hamilton campus residential program), and Director of Christian Formation for Gordon-Conwell as a whole.
Dr. Adams’s specialties in Church History are focused on the Late Medieval and Reformation eras; the history and practice of Christian spirituality; and C. S. Lewis. She is the author of Visions in Late Medieval England: Lay Spirituality and Sacred Glimpses of the Hidden Worlds of Faith and the editor of the Romans 1-8 volume in the Reformation Commentary on Scripture series and the Bernard of Clairvaux volume (forthcoming) in the Theological Foundations series.
She is the designer of LifeStory Exegesis™ (Story Spirituality™)—a model of spirituality that can be used in spiritual formation, direction, discipleship, and counseling. Bringing together theology, historiography, and literary theory, it engages the structure of the Creation-Redemption meta-narrative to provide a framework that shapes the understanding and effective living of one’s life as a follower of Christ.
As the Director of Christian Formation, Dr. Adams casts the vision for formation at Gordon-Conwell and directs the Pierce Center for Disciple-Building, the Lilly grant Project in Pastoral Longevity, and the Spiritual Formation Studies program. She also serves as the Director of the Rosell Scholars Program, which provides scholarships and mentorship for students preparing for doctoral work and teaching vocations in higher education.
She serves as a trustee for the Union Foundation (Bridgend, Wales, UK), a senior fellow for Union School of Theology, a member of the Doctrine of Scripture steering committee for the Evangelical Theological Society, and a fellow for Credo (magazine, podcast, and conference making classical theology accessible).
A life-long Presbyterian, she is married to D. Kevin Adams, the senior pastor of East Baptist Church in Lynn, MA and of the Welsh Congregation of New York City.
Degrees
- BA (Wellesley College)
- MDiv (Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary)
- PhD (University of Cambridge, UK)
Featured Publications
Selected Publications
- “The Controversy over Faith in Romans 3:28 in the Reformation,” in Oxford Handbook of the Bible and the Reformation. Edited by Jennifer Powell McNutt and Herman Selderhuis. Oxford; London; New York: Oxford University Press, forthcoming.
- “Visions of the Otherworlds in the Late Middle Ages (1300-1500),” in Imagining the Medieval Afterlife. Edited by Richard Pollard. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, forthcoming.
- Romans 1-8. Reformation Commentary on Scripture Series. Edited by Gwenfair Walters Adams. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2019.
- “Shock and Awe: The Reformers and the Stunning Joy of Romans 1-8.” JETS 61 (2018): 231-244.
- “Solus Christus: Luther’s Journey to the Singular Focus” in Reformation Celebration: The Significance of Scripture, Grace, Faith and Christ. Edited by Gordon L. Isaac and Eckhard J. Schnabel. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2018.
- “Spiritual Crisis (Anfechtung)” and “Luther’s Illnesses” in Encyclopedia of Martin Luther and the Reformation. Edited by George Thomas Kurian and Mark A. Lamport. Lanhan, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2017.
- “From Calvinistic Methodist Miner to Pentecostal Icon: The Surprising Story of Evan Roberts, the Welsh Revival, and Azusa Street.” Co-Authored with David K. Adams. In Great Awakenings: Historical Perspectives for Today. Edited by David Horn and Gordon L. Isaac. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2016.
- “Bay Psalm Book” “Anne Bradstreet,” “Cane Ridge Revival,” “Mary Dyer,” “Elisabeth Elliot,” “Anne Hutchinson,” “Ann Judson,” “Flannery O’Connor,” “Harriet Beecher Stowe,” “Phillis Wheatley,” “George Whitefield,” and “Wordless Book” in Encyclopedia of Christianity in the United States. Edited by George Thomas Kurian and Mark A. Lamport. Lanhan, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2016.
- “Prologue: On Consolation” to The Consolations of Theology, edited by Brian S. Rosner. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008.
- Visions in Late Medieval England: Lay Spirituality and Sacred Glimpses of the Hidden Worlds of Faith. Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2007.
- “Atonement in Medieval Theology.” Pages 239-262 in The Glory of the Atonement. Edited by Charles Hill and Frank James. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2005.