Jerry Root is Emeritus Professor of Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois and a visiting Professor at Biola University. He attended Whittier College in Whittier, California where he was awarded 7 Varsity Letters in football and wrestling. Jerry received a Master of Divinity degree from Talbot Graduate School of Theology and earned his Ph.D. through the Open University at the Oxford Center for Mission Studies.
He has been studying C. S. Lewis and topics constellating around Lewis for 53 years, as well as teaching Lewis for 43 years. He has lectured on Lewis topics at 79 Universities in 19 countries. His books include: the bestselling and award winning The Quotable C. S. Lewis, co-edited with Wayne Martindale; The Soul of C. S. Lewis, also co-authored with Wayne Martindale; C. S. Lewis and a Problem of Evil (Princeton Theological Monographs); The Surprising Imagination of C. S. Lewis, and The Neglected C. S. Lewis, both co-authored with Mark Neal; The C. S. Lewis Bible, co-edited with Douglas Gresham (Lewis’s step- son); The Sacrament of Evangelism, co-authored with Stan Guthrie; and Naked and Unashamed, coauthored with Claudia Root and Jeremy Rios. Recently, Jerry published Splendour in the Dark a book about C. S. Lewis’s narrative poem Dymer (the book also includes Lewis’s 100-page poem). Jerry has also written numerous articles about C. S. Lewis and evangelism published in other books, journals, and periodicals, as well as read numerous academic papers at various academic venues.
Jerry has been married to Claudia since 1975. They have 4 married children and 15 grandchildren. He loves virtual fear including sky diving, balloon ascents, spelunking, swimming with sharks, rollercoasters, flying in vintage airplanes, hammerhead stalls in biplanes, and turbulence on airplanes.