Faithful Servants: Dennis Groh

The Faithful Servants Series gives an in-depth look at the work of some of Garrett-Evangelical's beloved retired faculty and senior scholars, as well as their reflections on their time at Garrett-Evangelical.  

With the greatest appreciation for my students and colleagues, I served on the faculty of my alma mater Garrett-Evangelical from 1968-1996 (full professor, 1978-1996) and as an Advisory Member of The Graduate Faculty, Northwestern from 1970-1996. As professor of the history of Christianity (Patristics), I was privileged to teach almost half the students who passed through the seminary in those years and to track their ministries as they become accomplished ministers and scholars throughout the church and the academy. One of the many high-points of my tenure involved the numerous archaeological excavations made at various sites in Israel together with our students. A number of my former graduate students went on to serve our school with distinction in their academic posts; and, for my seventieth birthday, produced a book of scholarly essays in my honor edited by our own George Kalantzis and Thomas F. Martin: Studies on Patristic Texts and Archaeology. If These Stones Could Speak. . . Essays in Honor of Dennis Edward Groh. With a Forward by Elizabeth A. Clark. Lewiston/ Queenston/ Lampeter: The Edwin Mellen Press, 2009. Current Garrett-Evangelical Prof. James L. Papandrea, also a former student, contributed a fine article to the volume. I left Garrett-Evangelical in 1996 to return to my undergraduate alma mater, Illinois Wesleyan University, as University Chaplain and Professor of Humanities and Archaeology, retiring from that position at the end of 2006.