ABOUT

Kelly M. Kapic (PhD, King’s College London) is professor of theological studies at Covenant College, where he has taught since 2001.

Kapic has written and edited numerous books, focusing on the areas of systematic, historical, and practical theology.  His recent works include You’re Only Human: How Your Limits Reflect God’s Design and Why That’s Good News (Brazos, 2022) and Embodied Hope: A Theological Mediation on Pain and Suffering (IVP Academic, 2017), each of which won awards, including the Christianity Today Book of the Year award in the category of Theology/Ethics.   Most recently he released a devotional called You Were Never Meant to Do it All: A 40-Day Devotional on the Goodness of Being Human (Brazos, 2025).

His other books include Becoming Whole: Why the Opposite of Poverty isn’t the American Dream (w Yale-trained Economist Brian Fikkert, 2019), Reading Christian Theology in the Protestant Tradition (ed. w. Hans Madueme (Bloomsbury/T & T Clark, 2018) and The God Who Gives: How the Trinity Shapes the Christian Story (Zondervan, 2018).

Some of his earlier books include Sanctification: Explorations in Theology and Practice (IVP Academic, 2014), Dictionary of the Reformed Tradition (w. Wesley Vander Lugt, IVP Academic, 2013 – translated into Korean and Romanian), A Little Book for New Theologians (IVP Academic, 2012 – currently translated into Portuguese, Aramic, Romanian, Indonesian, etc.), The Ashgate Research Companion to John Owen’s Theology (ed. w. Mark Jones, Ashgate, 2012), Mapping Modern Theology (ed. w. Bruce L. McCormack, Baker Academic, 2012, trans. Into Korean), God So Loved He Gave (w. Justin Borger, Zondervan, 2010), Communion with God: The Divine and the Human in John Owen’s Theology (Baker Academic, 2007 – translated into Portuguese); Communion with the Triune God (ed. w. Justin Taylor, Crossway, 2007), Overcoming Sin and Temptation (ed. w. Justin Taylor, Crossway, 2006), and The Devoted Life: An Invitation to the Puritan Classics (ed. w. Randal Gleason, IVP, 2004, trans. into Korean).

Kapic has also published articles in various journals and books, such as the International Journal of Systematic Theology, Conversations in Religion and Theology, Westminster Theological Journal, Evangelical Quarterly and Journal of Spiritual Formation & Soul Care.  A sample of his published essays include,  “The Son’s Assumption of a Human Nature: A Call for Clarity,” IJST, “Trajectories of a Trinitarian Eschatology,” in Trinitarian Soundings in Systematic Theology (ed. by Paul L. Metzger, T & T Clark, 2005), “‘Evangelical Holiness’: Assumptions in John Owen’s Theology of Christian Spirituality,” in Life in the Spirit: Spiritual Formation in Theological Perspective (ed. Jeffrey P. Greenman and George Kalantzis, IVP Academic, 2010), 97-114, “Psalm 22: Forsakenness and the God who Sings,” in Theological Commentary (ed. Michael Allen, T & T Clark, 2011), 41-56, “Typology, the Messiah, and John Owen’s Theological Reading of Hebrews,” in Christology and Hermeneutics: Hebrews as an Interdisciplinary Case Study (ed. Dan Treier and Jon Laansma, T & T Clark/Continuum, 2012), 136-155.

Kapic regularly speaks at conferences, schools, and Churches where he seeks to help God’s people better understand their faith.  Kelly and his wife, Tabitha, live on Lookout Mountain.  They have two adult children: Jonathan and Margot.

VOCATIONAL VISION

  • To educate and equip believers with biblically informed Christ-centered theological instincts so that they may live faithfully and serve sacrificially.
  • To provide accessible scholarship that is theologically rich, historically informed, relevant to the present, and helpful for the future. This includes writing and speaking in the areas of systematic, historical, and practical theology.
  • To promote collaboration because I believe our theology is sharpened and the community is better served when robust communication and relationships accompany teaching and scholarship.

Family

Kelly and Tabitha Kapic were both originally Californians, but after getting married in 1993 they spent a few years outside of Chicago and then three years in Orlando before moving overseas. During their years in London they both completed further degrees while Tabitha also worked at the US Embassy. Since 2001 ,they have lived on Lookout Mountain, GA. Kelly teaches at Covenant College and Tabitha works at the Chalmers Center. They have two adult children, Jonathan and Margot Kapic. Most recently Jonathan married his college sweetheart, Juliette.

Education

June 2001 KING’S COLLEGE, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON, London, UK
• Ph.D. in Systematic and Historical Theology

May 1998 REFORMED THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, Orlando, FL
• Master of Divinity

June – August 1997 CENTER FOR MEDIEVAL & RENAISSANCE STUDIES, Oxford University, UK
• Tutorial with Dr. Alister E. McGrath

May 1995 WHEATON COLLEGE, Wheaton, IL
• Bachelor of Arts, Double Major: Philosophy and History, magna cum laude

Sample of Named Lectureships Given:

  • March 2024    Woolman Lecturer in Christian Scholarship, Malone University
  • July 2023   McKnight Lectures, First Presbyterian Church, Augusta
  • ·February 2023 Grimké Lecture for The Edmiston Center, Atlanta Georgia
  • August 2022   Eliza Ferrie Lecture, Christ College, Sydney, Australia
  • August 2022   Annual Moore College Invited Lectures, Sydney, Australia
  • October 2019  Reformation Heritage Lectures, Beeson Divinity School

Examples of Institutions Kelly has served as an External Examiner for Ph.D. Students/Theses:

  • Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
  • University of Otago, New Zealand
  • University of Aberdeen, Scotland
  • Wheaton College, USA
  • Australian College of Theology, Sydney, Australia
  • Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand

Sample of Honors or Grants Received:

  • Received the Randy Sorensen Memorial Award, 2019.  From the Institute for Research in Psychology and Spirituality (IRPS).
  • Templeton World Charity Foundation (TWCF) Grant = Part of the core team working on “The Christian Practice of Lament: Mechanisms of Change, Moderators, and Flourishing Outcomes,” began in 2022.  An interdisciplinary team of psychologists, philosophers, and a theologian.
  • Received the Southeastern Theological Fellowship for “outstanding scholarship,” November, 2019.
  • John Templeton Foundation Grant = Part of a nine-person Core team working on “Christian Meaning-Making, Suffering, and the Flourishing Life.”  Team includes six psychologists, one philosopher, and two theologians (of which I would be one) (Began in 2018).
  • A Core Research Team Advisor (1 of 8) for the “Amazing Grace Project,” funded by the John Templeton Foundation.  I served as a theological advisor to the team that was working to see if or how one might be able to study grace from a psychological and empirical perspective (2015-2020).
  • A member of the international Protestant Drafting Committee of A Reforming Catholic Confession, completed in 2017.
  • Recipient of John Templeton Foundation Grant for Spring 2014 at the Center for Christian Thought at Biola University.  In this interdisciplinary context a small group of scholars  we together labored under the larger umbrella theme of “Psychology and Spiritual Formation.”  My particular research focused on the relationship between faith and suffering, giving chronic pain particular attention.
Read Kelly Kapic’s CV