Dr. Jerry Root:
The Full Story
"Loving Jesus is the most important thing."
–Dr. Jerry Root
Dr. Jerry Root is professor emeritus at Wheaton College, as well as a visiting professor at Biola University, Talbot Graduate School of Theology, and Moody Bible Institute. As an undergrad student, Jerry attended Whittier College in Whittier, California where he was awarded 7 varsity letters in football and wrestling. Jerry started for his college championship team for three years and as a running back he never once fumbled and never lost a yard all the times he carried the football. This meant lots of first down carries and touchdowns. Jerry continued to play some form of American football until he was 44 years old. After undergrad, Jerry pursued and received his Master of Divinity degree from Talbot Graduate School of Theology and later earned his Ph.D. through the Open University at the Oxford Center for Mission Studies. Jerry and his wife Claudia have been married since 1975. Together, they have 4 married children and 15 grandchildren.
Dr. Root has studied C.S. Lewis and related topics since 1970 (51 years). In addition to his studies, Jerry chose to share his extensive knowledge through the teaching of many C. S. Lewis focused courses for 41 years (since 1980). Dr. Root has lectured on Lewis at 78 Universities, in 18 countries.
Along with speaking engagements and professorship, Jerry is also a bestselling author. His books include: the bestselling and award winning The Quotable C. S. Lewis, co-edited with Wayne Martindale; The Soul of C. S. Lewis, also co-authored with Wayne Martindale; C. S. Lewis and a Problem of Evil; and The Surprising Imagination of C. S. Lewis, co-authored with Mark Neal; The C. S. Lewis Bible, co-edited with Douglas Gresham (Lewis’s step-son); The Sacrament of Evangelism, co-authored with Stan Guthrie; and Naked and Unashamed, coauthored with Claudia Root & Jeremy Rios. Most recently, Jerry published Splendour in the Dark, a book about C. S. Lewis’s narrative poem “Dymer” (the book also includes Lewis’s actual 100-page poem).
In addition to his many books, Jerry has written numerous articles about C. S. Lewis and evangelism for a variety of books, journals, and periodicals. . These and other publications can be found listed here.
Jerry loves conquering fear through experiencing adrenaline inducing activities including skydiving, spelunking, swimming with sharks, roller-coasters, flying in vintage airplanes, hammerhead stalls in biplanes, and turbulence on airplanes.
