"Is Jesus the Only Savior? "

Dr. Edward’s seminar topic will be Is Jesus the Only Savior? The first seminar session is Friday evening from 7:00 – 9:00. Saturday sessions run from 9:30 AM to 2:30 PM, with continental breakfast and lunch provided to registrants. Because of a gift to the congregation to fund the seminars, the cost is just $35 which covers the meals, snacks and printed materials. Group rates are available as well as a special rate for retired ministers and their spouses. Call the church office at 503-648-9573 for details.

Dr. Edwards currently holds the Bruner-Welch chair at Whitworth University, Spokane, Washington. James Edwards was born and raised in Colorado Springs where his foremost interests as a teenager were skiing and mountaineering. He attended Whitworth College in Spokane, Washington, during which time he led a large Young Life Club, and from which he graduated in 1967. He then attended Princeton Theological Seminary where he earned a Master of Divinity degree in 1970. While at Princeton he married Mary Jane Pryor in 1968. Following Princeton he studied theology for one year at the University of Zürich in Switzerland while he and Jane lived in a Swiss farm village. From 1971-78 he served as Minister of Students at the First Presbyterian Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado, during which time he earned a Ph.D. in New Testament from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. From 1978 to 1997 he taught religion and chaired the department of Religion and Philosophy at Jamestown College, Jamestown, North Dakota. Since 1997 he has been Professor of Religion at Whitworth College in Spokane, Washington.

An ordained Presbyterian minister, Edwards has been a short-term translation consultant for Wycliffe Bible Translators in Colombia, as well as leader and translator for nearly a dozen church visitations to the former East Germany. He was named to the North Dakota Humanities Council for his studies on the Holocaust. He has received teaching and research awards from Sears-Roebuck, Templeton Award in Science and Religion, German Academic Exchange Service, and Pew-Gordon. Since coming to Whitworth he has received the faculty’s Teaching Excellence Award (1999) and the Most Influential Professor award (2001) from the students. He teaches regularly for Fuller Theological Seminary extension programs. In addition to his teaching, he maintains an active schedule of speaking in church, at conferences, and in various community settings. He has published numerous articles in scholarly and popular journals, and he is a Contributing Editor of Christianity Today. He has authored several books, including three New Testament commentaries for Community Bible Study, The Layman's Overview of the Bible (co-authored with George Knight, Nelson's, 1987), and Romans (New International Commentary Series, Hendrickson's, 1992), and The Divine Intruder. When God Breaks Into Your Life (NavPress, 2000). He enjoyed an eight-month sabbatical in 2000 at Tyndale House, Cambridge, England, where he completed a commentary on The Gospel According to Mark (Pillar New Testament Commentary Series), Eerdmans, 2002. His latest book, Is Jesus the Only Savior? (Eerdmans, 2005) received Christianity Today’s book of the year (2006) award in apologetics and evangelism.

Jim's wife, Jane, is active in the leading of women’s groups and teaching dance. Jim and Jane have two grown children, a daughter Corrie and a son Mark. In 2003 Jim and Mark climbed the Mittellegi Ridge of the Eiger in Switzerland.

In his lectures, Dr. Edwards is seeking to respond to the skepticism regarding the historic understanding of Jesus as savior as well as the pluralism and relativism that are coming from our culture.