Philip Ryken


Philip Graham Ryken is an American theologian, Presbyterian minister, and academic administrator. He is the eighth and current president of Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois.

Early life and education

Ryken was born on September 29, 1966. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature and philosophy from Wheaton College in 1988. He also completed a Master of Divinity degree from Westminster Theological Seminary in 1992 and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in historical theology from University of Oxford in 1995.

Professional life

Ryken is an ordained teaching elder in the Presbyterian Church in America. He joined the pastoral staff of historic Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia in 1995 and was elevated to the position of senior minister upon the death of James Boice in 2000. In February 2010, the Board of Trustees at Wheaton College announced his selection as the college's eighth president, succeeding the retiring Duane Litfin. Ryken took office on July 1, 2010, and was formally inaugurated on September 17, 2010, at Edman Chapel.
He is a member of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, serving as a member of the alliance council, which features his expository preaching on its weekly national radio and internet broadcast, Every Last Word.

Scholarship

He has written over thirty books on a wide variety of Christian subjects, including:
Ryken has also coauthored a series of commentaries on individual books of the Bible with R. Kent Hughes. Ryken and his father, literary scholar Leland Ryken, have collaborated to produce a study Bible, and the father-son team worked with James Wilhoit to write Ryken's Bible Handbook, which focuses on the literary genres and styles in each book of the Bible.

Personal life

Ryken is the son of the Christian literary scholar and Wheaton professor Leland Ryken. Ryken met his wife, Lisa, while the two were students at Wheaton. They were married after their junior year. The couple have five children, and reside in Wheaton. He is known to enjoy waterskiing, basketball, soccer, and poetry.

Works

Books