Regent College is delighted to announce the establishment of the Loren and Mary Ruth Wilkinson Chair of Interdisciplinary Studies. Named in recognition of two distinguished members of the Regent community whose ministry shaped the experience of generations of students, this new chair has been made possible by proceeds from the sale of the Regent parking lot and a very generous gift from donors who have a profound appreciation for Loren and Mary Ruth and their many contributions to life at Regent. This wonderful gift to the Regent community will bolster the strength and sustainability of Regent’s unique interdisciplinary offerings for many years to come.

Interdisciplinary Studies at Regent College

From its founding as a school of theology focused on educating Christian laypeople from diverse walks of life, Regent has placed interdisciplinarity at the centre of its mission and curriculum. This focus springs from the conviction that theology not only can but must be in constant conversation with other fields of study and endeavour, including those typically viewed as purely secular in nature. Interdisciplinary studies play a key role in Regent’s communal exploration of the difference Christ makes to everything.

Regent’s Interdisciplinary Studies courses cover a vast range of topics and approaches, with different subjects covered from term to term and year to year. All of these courses are designed to help students make connections between Christianity and various aspects of life and culture, from philosophy and economics to psychology and medicine. The Interdisciplinary Studies concentration—available to MATS, MDiv, and ThM students—is particularly focused on fostering students’ ability to think Christianly about topics that normally lie outside the theological curriculum. This concentration, along with those in Marketplace Theology and Christianity and the Arts, expresses Regent’s ongoing commitments to both theological education for the whole people of God and cultural engagement that is informed, nuanced, and constructive.

And few people have done more to nurture these commitments—and their application in Regent’s institutional culture and practices—than Loren and Mary Ruth Wilkinson.

The Wilkinson Legacy

Loren and Mary Ruth joined the Regent community when Loren was appointed to the faculty in 1981. Loren had previously served as an Associate Professor in the Department of English at Seattle Pacific College (1972–77) and as a Fellow at the Calvin Center for Christian Scholarship (1977–78). Following his retirement, Loren was appointed Professor Emeritus of Interdisciplinary Studies in April 2016.

Loren Wilkinson’s scholarly interests are wide and deep. His teaching record includes a wide range of courses in Christianity and the arts, philosophy, and earthkeeping. His most recent course, The Poetry & Thought of Gerard Manley Hopkins, ran in January 2026. Mary Ruth also served as a lecturer for many years, teaching a popular course on Books, Children & God. Together, the Wilkinsons developed Wilderness, Technology & Creation (Regent’s famous “boat course”) and Food: Creation, Community, Communion (the equally legendary “food course”), both of which they co-taught for many years before handing the reins—or oars—to other faculty members.

Since 1988, Loren and Mary Ruth have lived on Galiano Island off the coast of British Columbia, where their life and work on a community-owned farm bring many of the themes and values in their courses vividly to life. Their hospitality to individuals, groups, and whole classes of students made Galiano Island a milestone in the intellectual and spiritual development of countless Regent grads.

Loren and Mary Ruth drew on their experiences on Galiano in their co-written book, Caring for Creation in Your Own Backyard (Regent College Publishing, 2001). Loren has also written many scholarly and popular articles developing a Christian environmental ethic and exploring the human relationship to the natural world in its environmental, aesthetic, scientific, and religious dimensions. Early in his career, he edited a volume on Earthkeeping: Christian Stewardship of Natural Resources (Eerdmans, 1980); just a few years ago, he published Circles and the Cross: Cosmos, Consciousness, Christ, and the Human Place in Creation (Cascade, 2023). Mary Ruth is the co-author, with her daughter Heidi Wilkinson Teel, of A Time to Read: Good Books for Growing Readers (Regent College Publishing, 2000).

Both individually and in partnership, Loren and Mary Ruth Wilkinson have played an indispensable role in shaping Regent College’s unique ethos and patterns of life together, from cultivating a long-lasting and often counter-cultural commitment to embodied creation care to fostering a theology of soup. Please join us in praising God for Loren and Mary Ruth, their many contributions to the life of our community, and this new opportunity to honour and perpetuate their legacy.

Loren and Mary Ruth on Granville Island in the early 1980s. Photo courtesy of Craig Gay and Julie Lane Gay.

Community Responses

The establishment of the new Wilkinson Chair has been warmly welcomed by Regent’s leadership and the College community as a whole.

President Paul Spilsbury said, “I am delighted by the establishment of this new chair. Interdisciplinary studies are at the heart of the mission of Regent College, and this chair means that we will continue to grow in this area for years to come. Having Loren and Mary Ruth’s names attached to the chair points very appropriately to the immense contribution that they have made to Regent for nearly five decades.”

Academic Dean Jerry Hwang looks forward to filling the new Wilkinson Chair. "Regent College has a deep and long history in bridging different disciplines under the rubric of Interdisciplinary Studies. The search for a faculty member to occupy the Loren and Mary Ruth Wilkinson Chair of Interdisciplinary Studies will commence in the Fall 2026 term, and we look forward to welcoming an eclectic, visionary, and godly faculty member to campus to continue the rich legacy of the Wilkinsons."

Research Professor Iwan Russell-Jones, who has worked closely with Loren as both a faculty colleague and a filmmaker, spoke further about the Wilkinsons’ contributions to interdisciplinary studies at Regent.

“It’s wonderfully appropriate that the new chair is to be named in honour of Loren and Mary Ruth Wilkinson. Christian theology is by its very nature interdisciplinary, inviting deep thought and reflection on every aspect of existence in relation to God, and few people have done more to practice and encourage this at Regent College than the Wilkinsons. Their breadth of reading and learning, their intellectual curiosity, love of science, literature, and the arts, and their delight in conversation have enriched the lives of generations of students and colleagues.

“Loren's most recent book, Circles and the Cross, which explores profound questions of cosmology, philosophy, and consciousness in the light of Christ, demonstrates the extent to which an interdisciplinary approach characterises the Wilkinsons’ writings as well as their teaching. Theirs is a rich legacy of creative and informed Christian thinking, and there can be no more fitting way to honour, renew, and ensure the continuation of this legacy than through the establishment of an endowed chair in Interdisciplinary Studies bearing the names of these two remarkable people.”

Director of Advancement Richard Thompson placed the creation of the Wilkinson Chair in a larger context of donor generosity. “Over the past year, three generous couples have come forward to give the College two new endowed Chairs: the Bruce K. Waltke Chair of Old Testament Studies and this new Wilkinson Chair. The faithfulness and generosity of our supporters never ceases to amaze me. The donors to the Wilkinson Chair, who have requested to remain anonymous, are beautiful examples of faithful discipleship, generous hospitality, and abundant giving. I am deeply grateful to them for this gift, and to God for his ongoing provision for the needs of our community.”

The establishment of the Wilkinson Chair offers an opportunity to recruit and welcome a new faculty member to the Regent community. Additional details will be made available on Regent’s Employment page in the near future.