Faculty and Administration

Steve earned his BA at Northwest University in Seattle. After a couple of years serving in youth ministry, he went to graduate school and earned an MA at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, studying systematic theology and church history. Following that, he earned his PhD at Marquette University, where he focused on historical theology, with particular attention to the theology of Jonathan Edwards.

After completing doctoral studies, he taught for three years at Emmanuel College in Georgia. He started at McMaster Divinity College in July 2006, teaching courses in theology, theology & culture, and theological leadership.

His research interests include the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, Jonathan Edwards, Pentecostal theology, and theological reflection on contemporary culture and events. His publications fall into two streams: one focuses on the trinitarian theology of Jonathan Edwards (e.g., The Trinitarian Vision of Jonathan Edwards and David Coffey and, with Robert Caldwell, The Trinitarian Theology of Jonathan Edwards). The other, participates in constructive Pentecostal theology (e.g., From Pentecost to the Triune God and Pentecostalism and Globalization).

Practical Ministry Experience:
I left for Northwest University with a strong sense of a call to ministry. While in college, I studied youth ministries and served in several church youth ministries in the Seattle area. After university, I was youth pastor in an Assemblies of God church for two years in Woodinville, Washington. Afterward, I served an Assemblies of God congregation on Northern Minnesota’s “Iron Range” for several years as youth and associate pastor. This experience shapes my vision of the theological task. Theology is not primarily a dreary trek through thick tomes and down metaphysical rabbit trails that lead one ever away from the real world (well, at least it shouldn’t be). Theology helps us to discern authentic and effective ways to embody the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives and ministries. Theology helps us “keep in step with the Spirit.” It avoids cliché, hackneyed, and effortless answers. Your life, your church, and your ministry are not prepackaged programs and standardized paradigms. Your life and ministry has a unique habitat. The art of theological reflection prepares us to discern the pathways of faithful discipleship. I invite you to come join us as we endeavour to ask and answer the question: how can we embody the grace of Jesus Christ in the power of the Spirit in our lives and ministry for our contemporary world? That is the question of theology.

Research Interests:
Jonathan Edwards
Pentecostal theology
Christianity and culture
Christian adaptations to post-Christendom
Public theology

Current Projects:
The Future of Evangelicalism: Emerging Christianity and the Renewal of Evangelical Faith, co-author Lee Beach, (under contract)

Emerging Churches in Canada, co-author Lee Beach (funded by Lilly Theological Scholars Grant)

Publications:
Published

The Spirit of Atonement: Pentecostal Contributions and Challenges to the Christian Traditions (Bloomsbury, 2021).

(edited with Amos Yong) Pentecostal Theology and Jonathan Edwards (Bloomsbury, 2020).

(edited with Stanley E. Porter) Evangelical Theological Method: Five Views (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2018).

A Pentecostal Political Theology for American Renewal: Spirit of the Kingdoms, Citizens of the Cities (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016).

From Pentecost to the Triune God: A Pentecostal Trinitarian Theology (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012).

Christianity and Globalization: Implications for Christian Ministry and Theology (2015), edited with Gord Heath, includes an essay by Philip Jenkins.

(co-authored with Robert Caldwell) The Trinitarian Theology of Jonathan Edwards: Text, Context, and Application (Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2012).

The Trinitarian Vision of Jonathan Edwards and David Coffey (Amherst, NY: Cambria Press, 2011

(co-edited with Michael Wilkinson), A Liberating Spirit: Pentecostals and Social Action in North America, Pentecostals, Peacemaking, and Social Justice Series, ser. eds. Paul Alexander and Jay Beaman (Eugene, OR: Pickwick Press, 2010).

Pentecostalism and Globalization: The Implications of Global Pentecostalism for North American Pentecostal Theology and Ministry, ed. Steven M. Studebaker (Eugene, OR: Pickwick Press, 2010).

Jonathan Edwards’ Social Augustinian Trinitarianism in Historical and Contemporary Perspectives (Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2009).

Defining Issues in Pentecostalism: Classical and Emergent, ed. Steven M. Studebaker (Eugene, OR: Pickwick Press, 2008).