J. Gresham Machen Professor of Systematic Theology and Apologetics
Dr. Horton has taught systematic theology and apologetics at Westminster Seminary California since 1998 and is ordained in the United Reformed Churches in North America. He is also the founder of Sola Media and its associated endeavors: the White Horse Inn radio show and podcast, Modern Reformation magazine, Core Christianity, and Theo Global.
After receiving an MA from WSC in 1990, he earned a PhD from Wycliffe Hall, Oxford and the University of Coventry in 1996. From 1996 to 1998 he completed a research fellowship at Yale Divinity School. In 2016, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity from Grove City College.
A member of the American Academy of Religion, the Evangelical Theological Society, and the Council on Biblical Competencies at Biola University, Dr. Horton is also the author or editor of some forty books and contributor to various encyclopedias including the Oxford Handbook of Reformed Theology, the Oxford Handbook of Presbyterianism, and Brill’s Encyclopedia of Christianity.
His most recent books are Shaman and Sage: The Roots of “Spiritual but Not Religious” in Antiquity (Eerdmans, 2024), the first of three volumes on the intellectual history of “spiritual but not religious” as a phenomenon in Western culture; Justification (2 vols) (Zondervan, 2018); Rediscovering the Holy Spirit: God’s Perfecting Presence in Creation, Redemption, and Everyday Life (Zondervan, 2017); Core Christianity: Finding Yourself in God’s Story (Zondervan, 2016); Ordinary: Sustainable Faith in a Radical, Restless World (Zondervan, 2014); Calvin on the Christian Life: Glorifying and Enjoying God Forever (Crossway, 2014); Pilgrim Theology: Core Doctrines for Christian Disciples (Zondervan, 2013); The Christian Faith: A Systematic Theology for Pilgrims on the Way (Zondervan, 2011).
He has written articles for such publications as Pro Ecclesia, Christianity Today, The Washington Post, the International Journal of Systematic Theology, Touchstone, and Books and Culture.
Education BA Biola University; MA Westminster Seminary California; PhD University of Coventry and Wycliffe Hall, Oxford.
Other Affiliations Founder of White Horse Inn American Academy of Religion Evangelical Theological Society
What I Want to Instill in My Students “All of us are committed to helping students acquire the tools of life-long learning. One of those skills is the art of listening to others. Sometimes we Reformed folks get a reputation for cursing the darkness without lighting candles. It’s easy to shut people down and dismiss their arguments, but that not only opens the door to tolerating misrepresentation; it also weakens our own position. Only when we take people we disagree with seriously on their own terms and describe their views as they would recognize them do we then have the right to critique.
I think all of us, too, are committed to fueling our students’ love for Christian faith and practice, centering on “Christ, his gospel, and his church,” as our motto says. I see evidence of this zeal for both truth and piety, doctrine and zeal, creeds and deeds, on campus every day and it’s very encouraging. With my colleagues, I want to see our graduates enter their ministry with sympathetic and pastoral hearts as well as courageous and clear conviction.”
An Interview with Michael S. Horton
https://wscal.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/OH_10.05.09_HortonMichael.mp3
