BA MA PhD ThM PhD
Academic Director
Email: r.keay@spurgeons.ac.uk
Bob grew up in Plymouth, Massachusetts (locally known as America’s Home Town), and walked the same paths as the early Pilgrims in the New World. Like those Pilgrims, Bob’s heritage is British. His mother is English (from Balham, London) and his father’s ancestry is Scottish (from Dundee). Bob enjoys learning about early American history, and family history and genealogy. He and his wife Jill, who’s from Bangor in N Ireland, like walking and exploring National Trust properties (and their tea rooms). Whilst living in upstate New York, they had fun volunteering at the Sharon Playhouse in Sharon CT and the Centre for Performing Arts in Rhinebeck NY.
Bob has divided his career between the academic world and pastoral ministry. He joined the staff of Spurgeon’s College as Academic Director in August 2023. He earned a PhD in New Testament (with a focus on the role of the social sciences in interpretation) from the University of St Andrews and a ThM in Biblical Theology (with a focus on the use and interpretation of the Old Testament by New Testament writers) from Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary. Bob was a Byington Scholar at Gordon Conwell. He has been a Teaching Fellow in New Testament at the University of St Andrews; Lecturer in New Testament, Hellenistic Greek, and Theology at Queen’s University, Belfast; Senior Advisor in the Institute of Theology, Queen’s University, Belfast; Director of Education at Belfast Bible College; Associate Lecturer in Practical Theology at the Centre for Youth Ministry Ireland (CYMI); Academic Dean at New England Bible College. He has pastored churches in New Hampshire (First Baptist Church of Wolfeboro) and Connecticut (First Congregational Church of Sharon). He is ordained in, and a member of, the Evangelical Association of Reformed and Congregational Christian Churches.
Bob’s academic interests include the social world of early Christianity, the apocalyptic thought world of early Christianity, rhetoric and style in the letters of the apostle Paul, and the history of the interaction between science and faith.
Publications and Other Papers
2020: Reframing Pandemic. The Window of Christianity. NY: Basiliad Publishing.
2017: ‘Non-Chalcedonian Churches’ in The Essential Handbook of Denominations and Ministries, edited by George Kurian and Sarah Claudine Day, Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2017, pages 157-162.
2016: “Jesus vs the Bible,” Premier Christianity Magazine (May 2016) 54-59.
2015: Five articles in Encyclopedia of Christian Education. Edited by G.T. Kurian and M. A. Lamport. London: Roman and Littlefield, 2015.
School of Alexandria Teaching Ministry of Jesus
School of Antioch Teaching Ministry of Paul
Discipleship in the New Testament
2014: “Perspectives on Faith in Higher Education,” A short paper offered at the 2014 Faith at Work Summit (Boston MA).
2013: ‘Science and Faith Issues in Ancient and Medieval Christianity,’ with Pablo de Felipe. BioLogos Foundation, 2013. Published in three parts on the BioLogos website.
2006: ‘Pauline Rhetorical Style in Light of the Attic-Asianic Dispute,’ paper read at 2006 annual meeting (Aberdeen) of Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas in the “Greek of the NT” Seminar.
2005: ‘Paul the Spiritual Guide,’ Tyndale Bulletin 56:1 (2005) 151-55.
2001: ‘Individual and Group Identity in Paul and Paul’s Churches,’ A Paper read at the University of Glasgow, April 2001.
2000: ‘Paul and the “Introspective Conscience of the West” 50 Years On,” A Paper Read at St Mary’s College, the University of St Andrews, October 2000.
1999: Inside the Watchtower: A Study of Abusive Authority and the Great Apostasy. New England Institute of Religious Research. 1999.
1998: ‘The Old Testament Background of the “Firstborn”: A Preliminary Study for Understanding “The firstborn of all creation” (Colossians 1.15),’ Christian Apologetics Journal 1 (Spring 1998) 1-10.
Book Reviews
2010: ‘Review of “Faithfulness and the Purpose of Hebrews” by Matthew Marohl,’ Biblical Theology Bulletin 40 (2010) 162-63.
2008: ‘Review of “Philippians: A Greek Student’s Intermediate Guide” by Jerry Sumney. Review of Biblical Literature (March 2008) 1-3.
2003: ‘Review of “Paul and the New Perspective on Paul” by Seyoon Kim,’ Journal of Biblical Literature 122. (2003) 179-82.
2002: ‘Review of “Paul and the Salvation of the Individual” by Gary Burnett,” Journal of Biblical Literature 121.4 (2002) 777-780.
2002: ‘Review of “The Irony of Galatians: Paul’s Letter in First Century Context” by Mark Nanos,’ Horizons in Biblical Theology 24.2 (2002) 122-123.
