Gavin Ortlund

Gavin Rutherford Ortlund (born June 30, 1983) is an American Christian apologist,^[3] Reformed Baptist theologian,^[1] and author. Operating through his public ministry Truth Unites, Ortlund is known for defending theologically conservative evangelical Protestantism^[4] from an irenic perspective, engaging with proponents of Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, atheism, and liberal Protestantism.

Gavin Ortlund
Born	(1983-06-30) June 30, 1983 (age 42) Scotland
Education	University of Georgia (BA) Covenant Theological Seminary (MDiv) Fuller Theological Seminary (PhD)
Occupations	Christian apologist professor
Spouse	Esther Ortlund
Children	5
Father	Raymond C. Ortlund Jr.
Relatives	Ray and Anne Ortlund
Theological work
Tradition or movement	Reformed Baptist[1]
Notable ideas	Theological triage[2]
Website	truthunites.org

Ortlund is Theologian-in-Residence at Immanuel Nashville^[5][a] and Visiting Professor of Historical Theology at Phoenix Seminary.^[6] He won Christianity Today's 2024 Book of the Year award for his work What It Means to Be Protestant: The Case for an Always-Reforming Church.^[7][4]

Early life and education

Ortlund was born on June 30, 1983 in Scotland to parents^[8] Raymond C. Ortlund Jr.,^[9] and Jani Ortlund.^[10] He is the youngest of 4 children.

In 2006, Ortlund earned a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and Religion from the University of Georgia. In 2009, he earned a Master of Divinity from Covenant Theological Seminary. He went on to earn a Doctor of Philosophy from Fuller Theological Seminary in 2016, concentrating in historical theology.^[11] From 2017 to 2018, Ortlund performed post-doctoral research at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School through the Carl F. H. Henry Center for Theological Understanding, where he conducted research on Augustine's doctrine of creation.^[12]

Career

Academic background

Ortlund graduated from the University of Georgia in 2006 with a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy and religion.^[13] He subsequently earned a Master of Divinity degree from Covenant Theological Seminary in 2009.^[13] He completed his doctoral studies at Fuller Theological Seminary, earning a PhD in historical theology in 2016, with his dissertation titled "The Doctrine of Heaven in Anselm of Canterbury's Proslogion" under the supervision of Dr. Oliver Crisp.^[13]

Following his doctoral work, Ortlund served as a Research Fellow at the Carl F.H. Henry Center for Theological Understanding at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School during the 2017-2018 academic year as part of The Creation Project.^[13]

Pastoral ministry

From 2018 to 2023, Ortlund served as Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church of Ojai (American Baptist Churches USA) in Ojai, California.^[14] In October 2023, he announced his departure from the pastorate to pursue full-time ministry through digital platforms and academic roles.^[15]

Current positions

Ortlund currently serves as President of Truth Unites, a Christian apologetics and theological education ministry he launched in August 2020.^[16] He holds the position of Theologian-in-Residence at Immanuel Church in Nashville, Tennessee.^[17]

In 2025, Ortlund was appointed as Visiting Professor of Historical Theology at Phoenix Seminary.^[18][19]

He also holds fellowships with The Tim Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics, The Center for Baptist Renewal, and Credo, while maintaining membership in the St. Basil Fellowship of The Center for Pastor Theologians and serving as a Visiting Scholar at Reasons to Believe.^[18][16]

Views

• Ortlund has defended the doctrine of divine simplicity and the Thomistic view of the beatific vision.^[20][21]
• Ortlund has defended the view that Noah's flood was a regional event and not a global event, arguing that such a position is consistent with "an effort to take seriously the meaning of the text, which involves what the original author meant the original readers to take from it in its original context."^[22] This claim has caused controversy within Evangelicalism and ignited accusations of theological liberalism, which he has denied.^[23][24]
• Ortlund also holds to the position of biblical inerrancy. He identifies as a theologically conservative Christian in accordance with traditional historic Protestant positions. "I'm an evangelical Christian. I believe in biblical inerrancy. I think the Scripture is fully trustworthy. I think if people were to go down the line on...the average sort of testing issues of our times, they'd find me pretty conservative, pretty classically Christian in my instincts."^[24]

Bibliography

Ortlund has written a variety of books surrounding various biblical, theological, and ecclesiastical studies:

• 1–2 Kings: A 12-Week Study (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2017)^[25]
• Theological Retrieval for Evangelicals: Why We Need Our Past to Have a Future (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2019)^[26]
• Finding the Right Hills to Die On: The Case for Theological Triage (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2020)^[27][b]
• Anselm's Pursuit of Joy: A Commentary on the Proslogion (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2020)^[28]
• Retrieving Augustine's Doctrine of Creation: Ancient Wisdom for Current Controversy (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2020)^[29]
• Why God Makes Sense in a World That Doesn't: The Beauty of Christian Theism (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2021)^[30]
• Humility: The Joy of Self-Forgetfulness (Wheaton, IL: Crossway 2023)^[31][c]
• What It Means to Be Protestant: The Case for an Always-Reforming Church (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2024)^[4]
• The Art of Disagreeing: How to Keep Calm and Stay Friends in Hard Conversations (Epsom, England: The Good Book Company, 2025)^[32]

Personal life

Ortlund is married to his wife, Esther, and they have five children.^[5] He has two brothers: Dane Ortlund, author of Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers,^[33] and Eric Ortlund, who serves as a Lecturer in Old Testament and Biblical Hebrew at Oak Hill College in London.^[34]

Further reading

• Christian News Now Staff (August 4, 2020). "John MacArthur Appears on Fox News at Night; "We Are the Most Essential Reality in the World"". Christian News Now. Retrieved May 4, 2022.
• Robinson, Jeff (April 16, 2021). "Written to Christians or Almost Christians? Mohler and Schreiner Debate Warning Passages at TGC21". Archived from the original on April 16, 2021. Retrieved May 4, 2022.
• Dash, Darryl (August 3, 2021). 8 Habits for Growth: A Simple Guide to Becoming More Like Christ. Moody Publishers. ISBN 9780802499745.^{[page needed]}
• Lee, Justin (May 20, 2022). "Takeaways from the Debate over Tim Keller's "Third Way"". First Things. Retrieved August 14, 2022. In addressing the James R. Wood-David A. French debate, Ortlund tweeted, "[A]voiding tribalism and seeking winsomeness is NOT a strategy that can be discarded once we arrive in a ‘negative world,’ It is a biblical commandment" (as quoted here by Lee).
• Vincent, Benjamin (July 20, 2022). "Why We Shouldn't Practice Liturgy 'A La Carte'". Christianity Today. Retrieved August 9, 2022. Article discusses the Ortlund book, Theological Retrieval for Evangelicals: Why We Need Our Past to Have a Future.

Notes

1. Immanuel Nashville is a church in Nashville, TN.
2. Co-published with The Gospel Coalition.
3. Co-published with Union School of Theology.