Kaspars Ozolins has been appointed as the newest member of Southern Seminary’s biblical studies department.
Ozolins, who will serve as assistant professor of Old Testament interpretation, previously worked as a research associate at Tyndale House in Cambridge and comes to Southern Seminary with a dynamic educational and teaching background.
Ozolins received his PhD from UCLA and has lecturing and teaching experience at numerous colleges and seminaries including the University of Cambridge, The Master’s Seminary, and UCLA.
Southern Seminary President Albert Mohler said Ozolins’ background makes him an invaluable addition to the seminary’s Old Testament faculty.
“Kaspars Ozolins is an outstanding addition to the Southern Seminary teaching faculty,” Mohler said. “He brings outstanding academic credentials to his teaching, and he is an unreservedly conservative Old Testament scholar and teacher of the Scriptures.
“His experience at Tyndale House and in major universities, ranging from the University of Latvia to Cambridge University and UCLA will serve our students well. He and his sweet family will be warmly welcomed into the Southern Seminary family.”
Ozolins said he considers it a great privilege to join the Southern Seminary faculty.
“I give thanks to God for the honor and the privilege of joining the faculty at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, an institution with a storied past and a truly global impact,” Ozolins said. “My family and I look forward to building new and lasting relationships with the community of believers at Southern.”
Ozolins’ fields of expertise include historical linguistics, philology, and divinity. He has taught courses in Hebrew and linguistics. He is a member of the Society of Biblical Literature, the Evangelical Theological Society, the International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies, and the American Society of Papyrologists.
Ozolins said his most important goal is to see students love God’s Word, and he desires to train them to teach the entire canon as centering on Jesus Christ.
“My desire is that my students training for ministry would thoroughly know the Old Testament as Christian Scriptures which are able to make one wise unto salvation through faith in Christ Jesus,” he said.
Hershel York, Dean of the School of Theology, says Ozolins is a perfect fit for SBTS and its mission.
“Dr. Ozolins represents the balance of rigorous scholarship and deep Christian conviction for which Southern Seminary is rightly known. He combines a keen intellect with a warm evangelical spirit. His proven expertise in linguistics and Semitic languages is only exceeded by his passionate love of the Lord, his commitment to the inerrancy of Scripture, and his joyful participation in the local church.
“I am convinced that God has brought him here to shape a generation of ministers for faithful teaching and preaching even in a world that appears hostile to the gospel message.”