Scott McGinnis studies the history of Christianity, with a focus on late medieval theology, the theology of the Reformation, and the history of religious toleration and freedom. He teaches courses in Christian Theology, Biblical Foundations, Core Texts, Western Intellectual Tradition, Method and Research, the History of Christianity, and Global Christianity. He also teaches the department’s London-based travel course on the English Reformation and a travel course to Germany and Switzerland.

In addition to his book George Gifford and the Reformation of the Common Sort: Puritan Perspectives on Elizabethan Religious Life and the edited collection Teaching Augustine, McGinnis has published articles, essays, and book reviews on Christianity in early modern England, popular religion, and the history of dissenting movements.

McGinnis joined the Biblical and Religious Studies department in 2002. Prior to coming to Samford, he earned a MA from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and a PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is a member of Vestavia Hills Baptist Church and enjoys teaching there and in other area churches. In his free time, McGinnis is most commonly found walking outside, watching great films, traveling to out of the way places with his family, working at the Firehouse Ministries, or settling into a comfortable chair with a good book.

Degrees and Certifications

• BS, Samford University
• MBA, The University of Alabama
• MA, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
• MA, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• PhD, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill