School of

Theology and Missions

Hal L. Poe

Charles Colson Professor of Faith & Culture

University Profile | Scholarship Profile

About
Harry Lee (Hal) Poe serves as Charles Colson Professor of Faith and Culture at Union University in Jackson, Tennessee. Prior to accepting the Colson Chair he served as vice president at Union and held earlier teaching and administrative posts at Bethel Theological Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota and on two occasions at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Before teaching, Poe served in the Department of Evangelism of the Kentucky Baptist Convention, as pastor of the Simpsonville Baptist Church (KY), and as a prison chaplain at the Kentucky State Reformatory.

Dr. Poe teaches, lectures, and writes about how the gospel answers the deep questions of every culture. He has published over 200 articles and reviews, seventeen books, and twenty-two chapters in edited volumes. His books include The Gospel and Its Meaning (Zondervan, 1996), The Inklings of Oxford (Zondervan, 2009), What God Knows (Baylor, 2005), See No Evil: The Existence of Sin in an Age of Relativism (Kregel, 2004), Christianity in the Academy: Teaching at the Intersection of Faith and Learning (Baker Academic, 2004), Christian Witness in a Postmodern World (Abingdon, 2001), The Fruit of Christ’s Presence (Broadman, 1990), and four books on science and religion with Jimmy H. Davis: Chance or Dance (Templeton, 2008), Designer Universe (Broadman & Holman, 2002) which won a Christianity Today book of the year Merit Award, Science and Faith (Broadman & Holman, 2000) and God and the Cosmos: How God Relates to the Physical World (InterVarsity, 2012). He is co-editor with his daughter Rebecca of The Good, the True, and the Beautiful: Meditations (Chalice, 2008) and C. S. Lewis Remembered (Zondervan, 2006) a book of recollections by the former students of Lewis. He has also written on the spiritual journey and conversion of Edgar Allan Poe in Edgar Allan Poe: An Illustrated Companion to his Tell-Tale Stories (Barnes & Noble, 2008) which won the Edgar Award in 2009, and Evermore: Edgar Allan Poe and the Mystery of the Universe (Baylor, 2012). In Total Commitment (Amazon, 2016), Poe tells the story of his call to ministry when he served as Finance Director of the South Carolina Republican Party in 1974.

Dr. Poe serves on several boards, including the Edgar Allan Poe Foundation and Museum of Richmond, VA of which he was president for ten years, the American Scientific Affiliation of which he served as president, and the Christian Scholar’s Review. Formerly he served with the Jackson Symphony of Jackson, TN (President), The Academy for Evangelism in Theological Education (President), and the C. S. Lewis Foundation of Redlands, CA and Oxford, England with which he also worked as program director for the triennial C. S. Lewis Summer Institute in Oxford and Cambridge. He is the founder of the Inklings Fellowship and directs its annual Christianity in the Academy Conference and Inklings Weekend in Montreat, as well as its triennial Inklings Week in Oxford.

Dr. Poe is married to Mary Anne who serves as associate dean of the School of Social Work at Union University. They have two daughters: Rebecca who is married to Joshua Hays, and Mary Ellen.

Education:
PhD, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
MDiv, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
BA, University of South Carolina

Additional Study:
Oxford University
Georgetown University
CPE – Eastern State Hospital, Louisville, KY

Office: JEN 335, Box 3007, 731-661-5404
E-mail: hpoe@uu.edu