BOILING SPRINGS, NC – Today, Gardner-Webb University President, Frank Bonner announced two appointments to the Gardner-Webb University School of Divinity. Dr. Robert W. Canoy has been named as the new dean of the School and Dr. Gerald Keown has accepted the position of associate dean.
 
“I accepted this position only after having prayed diligently, visited with President Bonner, Provost Leslie, and Associate Provost Gravett, and heard of their vision for the School of Divinity,” noted Canoy. “They were each very clear about their commitment to the School’s continued academic excellence, its numerical growth, its place in the larger vision of Gardner-Webb University, but most importantly its role as an instrument for serving the Lord and His church.  I am encouraged about the School’s future knowing that we have their full support.”
 
Canoy has served as Associate Dean and Associate Professor of Theology for the School of Divinity since 2000. Canoy came to Gardner-Webb after serving as Senior Pastor at First Baptist Church in Shelby, NC. A native of Greenville, MS, Canoy holds the bachelor's degree from Mississippi College and the Master of Divinity and the Doctor of Philosophy from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY. An accomplished academician, he has served at both The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
 
“I have a single agenda for the School of Divinity—to continue preparing men and women for Christian ministry by providing the best biblically based theological education possible in our area.  We do this best by bringing the best we know, think, and believe as students and teachers to the table for open, honest, and heart-felt discussion,” added Canoy.
 
Canoy has also served as pastor for several significant Baptist churches in North Carolina, Kentucky, Missouri, Iowa and Maryland. Canoy has published numerous articles, including significant Biblical resources for teachers, students and scholars of New Testament studies.

“We embody, in my mind, the best of Baptist life and theological education in the classical sense (at The GWU School of Divinity).  We wrestle daily in the classroom with the key life issues which affect us as individuals, the world, and the church today, and we do so in a loving and supportive environment where students and faculty are recognized as both children of God and friends,” noted Canoy.





 
The Divinity School’s new Associate Dean, Gerald L. Keown has served at Gardner-Webb’s Divinity School since 1996 as Professor of Old Testament Interpretation. He came to the School of Divinity from Louisville, KY, where he had been on the faculty of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and was the Martha and Talmage Rogers Professor of Old Testament Interpretation. Keown has spent time teaching in the Moscow Seminary of Evangelical Christians and the Singapore Baptist Seminary. He earned the Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Alabama, the Master of Divinity and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY, and has done additional studies at Hebrew Union College, Goethe Institute and the University of Chicago. Keown co-authored a volume of Word Biblical Commentary on Jeremiah 26-52, and has been published in several books and journals.
 
Canoy becomes the fourth dean of the School of Divinity – following Dr. Robert Lamb, Dr. Wayne Stacy and Dr. Charles Bugg. Bugg announced last summer that he was stepping down as dean but would continue to teach. He also noted that he was planning to focus more of his time on family matters.
 
Established in 1992, The School of Divinity at Gardner-Webb University is Baptist in origin and commitment, ecumenical in outlook, and has as its purpose the preparation of persons for Christian ministries.  To achieve this end, the School of Divinity offers courses of study in which, under the leadership of dedicated and competent teachers, students engage in the study of and reflection upon the data, meaning, and implications of the Christian faith, beginning at its biblical base; enter into thoughtful and critical assessments of church history and theology; become involved in the process of spiritual formation personally, socially, and vocationally; and participate in the study and practice of various expressions of Christian mission and ministry.  The School of Divinity offers two degree programs, the Master of Divinity (M. Div.) degree and the Doctor of Ministry (D. Min.) degree.