The Gospel Coalition

Biography

J. Ligon Duncan III is a native of Greenville, South Carolina. He is a graduate of Greenville Senior High School (1979), Furman University (1983 BA History), and Covenant Theological Seminary, St. Louis, (1986 MDiv; 1987 MA Historical Theology). Upon graduation, he was presented Covenant Seminary’s J. Oliver Buswell Award for Church History and Systematic Theology. He studied Systematic Theology at the Free Church of Scotland College under Professor Donald Macleod (1988-1990) and earned the PhD (Ecclesiastical History and Systematic Theology) at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland in 1995.

Duncan served on the staff of The Covenant Presbyterian Church of St. Louis from 1984-1987. While in Britain (1987-1990), he regularly supplied pulpits in churches of the Presbyterian Association of England, Church of Scotland, and Free Church of Scotland. In 1990 Duncan he was ordained in the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) and joined the faculty of Reformed Theological Seminary (RTS), Jackson, Mississippi where he was Chairman of the Department of Systematic Theology, and the John R. Richardson Professor of Theology. At RTS he was responsible for teaching courses such as Systematic Theology, Ethics, Apologetics, History of Philosophy and Christian Thought, Covenant Theology, Patristics, Evangelism, and Theology of the Westminster Standards. He was also Assistant to the Pastor at Trinity Presbyterian Church, Jackson, Mississippi (1990-1995), and in 1993 served as Interim Pastor at First Presbyterian Church, Yazoo City, Mississippi. He became the Senior Minister of historic First Presbyterian Church, Jackson in 1996.

Duncan is an active churchman and has been involved in the courts of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) in various ways for many years. He is a past moderator of the Presbytery of Calvary (South Carolina Upcountry), and of the Presbytery of the Mississippi Valley (October 2000-February 2001). At the annual denominational meeting, held in June of 2004, he was elected the Moderator of the General Assembly of the PCA (2004-2005). Duncan is also active in a number of professional societies including the Scottish Evangelical Theology Society and the Rutherford House Fellowship in Britain. Here in the U.S. he is a member of the Evangelical Theological Society, the North American Patristic Society, the Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity, the National Association of Scholars as well as the South Carolina Historical Society.

He has authored numerous articles in various magazines, journals and newspapers including the Scottish Bulletin of Evangelical Theology, the Christian Observer, Tabletalk, Modern Reformation, RTS Ministry, Premise, O Jornal Os Puritanos, The Presbyterian Witness, NLA (National Lawyers Association) Review, AFA Journal, Presbyterian Network, Christian Perspectives: A Journal of Free Enterprise and Madison County Journal. He has edited, written and contributed to numerous books including: The Westminster Assembly: A Guide to Basic Bibliography (co-author with David W. Hall). Reformed Academic Press, 1993. Sponsored by NAPARC Commemorative Committee; A Short History of the Westminster Assembly. Reformed Academic Press, 1993 (co-author/editor with William Beveridge); Matthew Henry’s Method for Prayer (editor). Christian Focus Publications/Christian Heritage, 1994; David Hall’s The Practice of Confessional Subscription (contributing author). University Press of America, 1995; The Genesis Debate: Three Views of the Days of Creation (co-author with David W. Hall, Meredith Kline, Lee Irons, Hugh Ross and Gleason Archer). Crux Press, 2000; The Westminster Confession in the 2lst Century: Essays in Remembrance of the 350th Anniversary of the Westminster Assembly, (general editor and contributing author) Mentor, Vol. 1, 2003; Vol. 2, 2004; Vol. 3, 2005; Give Praise to God: A Vision for Reforming Worship, (editor and contributing author) P&R, 2003; Reclaiming the Gospel and Reforming Churches, (contributing author) Founders Press, 2003; Should We Leave Our Churches? (Co-author with Mark Talbot). P&R, 2004; Letters to Timothy, (contributing author) Founders Press, 2004; Confessing Our Hope, (contributing author) GPTS Press, 2004; and The Devoted Life: An Invitation to the Puritan Classics, (contributing author) IVP, 2004; Women’s Ministry in the Local Church,(co-author) Crossway, 2006; Preaching the Cross (contributing author), Crossway, 2007; Fear Not: Death and the Afterlife from a Christian Perspective, Christian Focus Press, 2008; In My Place Condemned He Stood,(contributing author), Crossway, 2008.

Books

• 

  Fear Not!Death and the Afterlife from a Christian Perspective

  Co-Author

  Ligon Duncan, J. Nicholas Reid

  Christian Focus, Forthcoming

  Scotland, UK

• 

  Women’s Ministry in the Local Church

  Co-Author

  Ligon Duncan, Susan Hunt

  Crossway, 2006

  Wheaton, IL

• The Westminster Confession into the 21st Century, Vol. 3

  Editor

  Ligon Duncan

  Christian Focus, 2005

  Scotland, UK

• 

  The Westminster Confession into the 21st Century, Vol. 2

  Editor

  Ligon Duncan

  Christian Focus, 2004

  Scotland, UK

• 

  Should We Leave Our Churches?A Biblical Response to Harold Camping

  Co-Author

  Ligon Duncan, Mark Talbot

  P & R, 2004

  Rick Phillipsburg, NJ

• 

  The Westminster Confession into the 21st Century, Vol. 1

  Editor

  Ligon Duncan

  Christian Focus, 2003

  Scotland, UK

• Matthew Henry’s Method for Prayer

  Editor

  Ligon Duncan

  Christian Focus, 1994

  Scotland, UK

• A Short History of the Westminster Assembly

  Editor

  Ligon Duncan, William Beveridge

  Reformed Academic Press, 1993

  Greenville, SC

• The Westminster Assembly

  Co-Author

  Ligon Duncan, David Hall

  Reformed Academic Press, 1993

  Greenville, SC

Publications

January 2006