The Rev. Dr. John P. Burgess is the James Henry Snowden* professor of systematic theology. Burgess has taught at Pittsburgh Seminary since 1998 and was previously associate for theology in the denominational offices of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). He is an ordained Presbyterian minister and a member of Pittsburgh Presbytery. After receiving his M.Div. from McCormick Theological Seminary and his doctorate in Christian theology from the University of Chicago, he taught at Doane College in Crete, Neb., and served several congregations part-time.

From 1984-85, Burgess was a guest student at the Protestant seminary in East Berlin and has written extensively on religion and democratization, including a book on The East German Church and the End of Communism (Oxford 1997).

Burgess is deeply committed to the Reformed tradition, and to theological reflection in service of the church. Recent research interests include ecclesiology, theological anthropology (what it means to be human before God), and the authority and interpretation of Scripture. He edited In Whose Image? Faith, Science and the New Genetics (WJK 1998) and wrote Why Scripture Matters: Reading the Bible in a Time of Church Crisis (WJK 1998).

Burgess is married, has three young daughters, and lives in the city of Pittsburgh.

*James Henry Snowden, D.D., L.L.D., was professor of systematic theology at Western Theological Seminary (a predicator of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary) from 1911-1929. He was a 1875 graduate of Washington and Jefferson College and a 1878 alum of Western Seminary. Snowden authored 23 books and 16 volumes of Snowden's Sunday School Lessons (1911-36). His best known books include The World and Spiritual System (1910) and Old Faith and Knowledge (1928).