Steven R. Harmon is associate professor of historical theology at Gardner-Webb University School of Divinity.
- Where did you grow up?
Rosebud, Texas, from age 8 through high school graduation, preceded by Italy, Itasca (go Wampus Cats!) and Rotan (ages 2 to 8), all also in Texas.
- What is your favorite verse, book or story in the Bible? Why?
Mark is my favorite book of the Bible, so I love preaching during Year B of the lectionary.
Of the canonical Gospels, it’s the one that nails the “not-yet” eschatology of trying to follow Jesus in the present order of things by emphasizing the failures of the disciples, the cross as the paradigm for discipleship, Jesus’ final words on the cross as “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” and the messy “unfinished” ending that was likely original, with the disciples saying nothing to anyone about the resurrection, “for they were afraid” – end of story, but to be continued.
- What is your favorite movie? Why?
It is a tie for what the final voiceover monologue sentence of each movie suggests about each: “The Shawshank Redemption” (“I hope”) and “A River Runs Through It” (“I am haunted by waters”).
- Who are three people you admire?
Oscar Romero, martyred archbishop of San Salvador; Kheresa Harmon, my wife; and Timothy Harmon, my son.
- What is one little-known fact about yourself?
Once upon a time, I was a pole vaulter, from junior high through high school.
