Dr. Don Fortson Receives MacLeod Award at Presbyterian Scholars Conference

Drs. Don Fortson, Ken Stewart

Reformed Theological Seminary congratulates Dr. Don Fortson, co-author of Reformed and Evangelical across Four Centuries: The Presbyterian Story in America, for receiving the MacLeod Award at the Presbyterian Scholars Conference recently held at Wheaton College. The other co-authors are Drs. Ken Stewart, Nathan Feldmeth, and Garth Rosell. Dr. Fortson also co-edited the book with Dr. Stewart, who serves as a visiting lecturer at RTS Atlanta.

The Presbyterian Scholars Conference is a gathering of scholars from various Presbyterian denominations who come together to offer papers and exchange remarks on Presbyterianism. The MacLeod Award is for Presbyterian history and was established in honor of A. Donald MacLeod, who is known throughout the U.S. and Canada as an outstanding Christian biographer and historian of Presbyterianism and evangelicalism.

“We were very pleased that the book received this recognition from other scholars in the field and trust this will be a helpful resource for all the Presbyterian denominations in America,” said Dr. Fortson.

Reformed and Evangelical across Four Centuries (Eerdmans, 2022) is a definitive history of evangelical Presbyterianism in the United States, beginning with its British foundations and extending to its present-day expression in multiple American Presbyterian denominations. This account emphasizes the role of the evangelical movement in shaping various Presbyterian bodies in America, especially in the twentieth century amid increasing departures from traditional Calvinism, historic orthodoxy, and a focus on biblical authority.

Particular attention is also given to crucial elements of diversity in the Presbyterian story, with increasing numbers of African American, Latino and Latina, and Korean American Presbyterians—among others—in the 21st century. This book is a bountiful resource to anyone curious about what it means to be Presbyterian in the multidimensional American context, as well as to anyone looking to understand this piece of the larger history of Christianity in the United States.

Dr. Fortson is Professor of Church History and Pastoral Theology at RTS Charlotte and has been a professor there since 1997. Prior to RTS, he served as Assistant Professor of Ministry and the Director of the DMin Program at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Before his teaching career, Dr. Fortson was a pastor for nine years. He continues his pastoral ministry through teaching, preaching in local churches, and leadership in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.