# Rollin G. Grams

Rollin Gene Grams (born July 25, 1958) is an American Episcopal author and theologian. He served as the director of the Robert C. Cooley Center for the Study of Early Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He has also lectured at the University of Oxford and Stellenbosch University in South Africa.

## Early life
### Family

Grams was born in Welkom in the Free State, South Africa to American missionary parents, Eugene Edgar Grams (1930–2016) and Evelyn Phyllis Grams (née Louton; 1931–2014), a daughter of A. G. Louton and sister of Edgar Louton. Through his mother, he is part of the prominent extended Louton missionary family in South Africa and has contributed scholarly research on his family. His eldest brother, Darrell Mark Grams is a noted lawyer and financial broker.

### Education

Grams earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Michigan in 1978, majoring in psychology and philosophy, where he was awarded the James B. Angell award. He earned a Master of Theological Studies from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in 1980, graduating summa cum laude and joining the Phi Alpha Chi Honor society. He then pursued a Doctor of Philosophy from Duke University in 1989 in the New Testament and Christian Origins. His PhD dissertation is entitled Gospel and Mission in Paul's Ethics.. Additionally, he attended the Harvard Divinity School and Central Bible College.

## Career
### Academic work

Grams begun his career as a theologian in 1985. Since 2006, he has served as a professor of Biblical Theology and Ethics at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Charlotte, North Carolina. He is also a lecturer at the Oxford Centre for Religion and Public Life and has served as an Overseas Coordinator and Course Designer at the Ridley Institute in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina since 2019.
His previous teaching roles include positions at the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Osijek, Croatia, where he was a Lecturer and Director of the M.A. in Biblical Studies program from 1997 to 1999. Grams also lectured at the International Baptist Theological Seminary in Prague, Czech Republic (1999–2010), and taught New Testament and Greek at Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology in Kenya (1989–1991). He has held visiting lecturer positions at theological institutions across Europe, Africa, and Asia, including Stellenbosch Theological Institute in South Africa, TCM International Institute in Austria, and Asia Theological Centre for Evangelism and Mission in Singapore.

### Writing

Grams' book entitled Unchanging Witness: The Consistent Christian Teaching on Homosexuality in Scripture and Tradition, written to address the polarity of homosexuality in modern Christianity, was published by B&H Academic in 2016, having been co-authored with S. Donald Forston III, a professor of church history. The University of Edinburgh reviewed the book, and it garnered endorsements from notable figures, including the president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary David Dockery, the Anglican Church of Kenya Eliud Wabukala and the Malaysian author and Methodist bishop Hwa Yung.
Grams also authored Stewards of Grace a biography of his prominent missionary parents, published in 2010 by Wipf and Stock. Additionally, he has published many articles.
Grams runs the online blog Bible and Mission and served as assistant editor of Transformation Journal from 2002 to 2005.

### Missions

Grams has been a part time missionary with United World Missions since 2009. His work has included stints in Kenya, Ethiopia, Malawi, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany and the United Kingdom.

## Publications
### As author

* Unchanging Witness: The Consistent Christian Teaching on Homosexuality in Scripture and Tradition (co-authored with Don Fortson III), B&H Publishing, 2016. ISBN 978-1-4336-8792-1
* Stewards of Grace: A Reflective, Mission Biography of Eugene and Phyllis Grams in South Africa, 1951-1962, Wipf & Stock, 2010. ISBN 978-1-60899-552-3
* Rival Versions of Theological Enquiry, International Baptist Theological Seminary, 2005

### As editor

* Academic Reasoning, Research and Writing in Religious Studies: A Concise Handbook (co-edited with Parush R. Parushev), Tribun EU, 2008. ISBN 978-80-7399-099-2
* Bible and Mission (co-edited with I. Howard Marshall, Peter Penner, and Robin Routledge), Neufeld Verlag, 2008
* Towards an Understanding of European Baptist Identity (co-edited with Parush R. Parushev), International Baptist Theological Seminary, 2006