Gary Poe

Professor of History | Chair, History Department

School: School of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Department: History
Sub-department(s): History (UG) | Honors (UG) | Humanities (UG)
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joined: 1995

Biography

Dr. Poe has served in youth and campus ministries positions and currently focuses his work on church history, spiritual development and issues of spirituality. Poe teaches and preaches in area churches. Prior to his present position at PBA, he was associate pastor at Grace Community Baptist Church, campus minister at Diablo Valley College and was an adjunct instructor with Southern Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.

Since coming to PBA, he has developed and written history curriculum for the Associate of Arts degree, developed and implemented a Bachelor of Arts in Ministry degree and presented several papers. He maintains active membership in the North American Patristic Society, the American Society of Church History, and the National Association of Baptist Professors of Religion. His research interests are focused on the early church, issues of race and religion, and interfaith discussions. He has presented papers on various topics related to spirituality in the early church, iconoclasm among the sixteenth century reformers, Baptist education, and Christianity’s connection with the eugenics movement in the United States. He has contributed articles and book reviews to several dictionaries and journals.

Off campus, he has been involved in organizing interfaith dialogues on topics such as immigration and the Americanization of religion and ethnic culture in the United States, and the connection between art and religion in Jewish and Christian history in partnership with the Palm Beach Fellowship of Christians and Jews. Dr. Poe has also been involved in leading study trips abroad. He has traveled with students to places like England, Greece, and Turkey. He also accompanied students on mission trips to a Sioux Indian reservation in South Dakota and the building of homes in Mexico. In addition Dr. Poe and his family spent a semester in London leading PBA’s London semester.

Degrees

PHD in Christian Life & Thought, Division: Historical Study, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary | MDV in Divinity, Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary | BS in General Agriculture, Colorado State University