John C. Holbert, Lois Craddock Perkins Professor of Homiletics at Perkins School of Theology, earned his B.A. degree from Grinnell College, the M. Div. from Perkins and a Ph.D. from SMU. He joined the Perkins faculty in 1979 as a teacher of Old Testament. He began to teach preaching in 1984 and was named to the Perkins Chair in Homiletics in 1997. An ordained elder in The United Methodist Church, he has served as interim senior minister of the First United Methodist Church in both Fort Worth and Dallas. Professor Holbert is past president of the Academy of Homiletics and co-editor of the journal Homiletic. He has written extensively in his field, has preached and lectured throughout the world and has written and sung opera. Respected in both academy and church, he retires as Professor Emeritus of Homiletics.