Michael S. Horton

Dr. Horton has taught apologetics and theology at Westminster Seminary California since 1998. In addition to his work at the Seminary, he is Founder and Editor-in-Chief of White Horse Inc, home to its namesake the White Horse Inn radio show and podcast, Modern Reformation magazine, Core Christianity, and the Global Theological Initiative. Dr. Horton received his M.A. at WSC in 1990 and went on to earn his Ph.D. from the University of Oxford in 1996. He completed a research fellowship at Yale University Divinity School from 1996 to 1998. In 2016, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity from Grove City College. A member of various societies, including the American Academy of Religion and the Evangelical Theological Society, Dr. Horton is the author/ editor of more than thirty books, including a series of studies in Reformed dogmatics published by Westminster John Knox. 

His most recent books are Justification: Volume 1 & 2, New Studies in Dogmatics; Rediscovering the Holy Spirit: God’s Perfecting Presence in Creation, Redemption, and Everyday Life; Core Christianity: Finding Yourself in God's Story; Ordinary: Sustainable Faith in a Radical, Restless World; Calvin on the Christian Life: Glorifying and Enjoying God Forever; Pilgrim Theology: Core Doctrines for Christian Disciples; The Christian Faith: A Systematic Theology for Pilgrims on the Way and The Gospel Commission. He has written articles for Modern Reformation, Pro Ecclesia, Christianity Today, The International Journal of Systematic Theology, Touchstone, and Books and Culture. 

Dr. Horton is an ordained minister in the United Reformed Churches in North America and lives in Escondido with his wife, Lisa, and four children. 

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.”