Dr. Daniel Newman

Biography

I grew up on the south coast of England and graduated from medical school at Oxford. Towards the end of my studies, however, I was recommended for training for ordained ministry in the Church of England. It was at about this time that I met my wife, Brooke. I read Theology at Cambridge and was awarded the Gibson Prize for Distinction in New Testament Greek. After being ordained in 2013, I served in parishes on the south coast, near London, and in the countryside. We moved to Moscow, Idaho in July 2022. I currently work at New St Andrews College as Director of Student Affairs, providing pastoral care for students and overseeing student leaders, and Junior Fellow in Theology. This year I will also be teaching second-year Greek as well as helping with freshman Latin. In addition I teach 9th Grade Latin at Logos School. I am undertaking PhD study at the University of Edinburgh examining the theology of seventeenth-century Anglican minister Thomas Traherne. Brooke and I have six children. In my spare time, I enjoy fencing.

Teaching Philosophy

Thomas Traherne wrote that when he was at the university (Oxford), he received 'the taste and tincture of another education' and saw that the subjects he studied, including grammar, 'pertained to felicity', the happiness that comes through love for God and 'nobility and goodness toward men' (Centuries of Meditations III.36, 40). The linguistic arts employed in the study of the Greek of the New Testament serve this end. I have embraced a ‘mixed methodology’ of language teaching which combines instruction in grammar, graded reading, and active use of the language. My goal is what C. S. Lewis achieved with the Great Knock: “I very soon became able to understand a great deal without (even mentally) translating it; I was beginning to think in Greek. This is the great Rubicon to cross in learning any language.” This approach to language-learning also cultivates in students the virtue of risk-taking, and they become better readers and communicators in general.

Statement of Faith

Although I didn’t grow up in a Christian household, I heard the gospel and believed from a young age thanks to the ministry of my local church and the influence of a Christian friend. I came to Reformation Anglican convictions whilst at university. I hold to the Apostles', Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds. I believe that Jesus died on the cross to reconcile us to the Father, that Scripture contains all things necessary to salvation, that we are justified by faith alone and not by works, that God is sovereign in salvation, and that Jesus is the only name by which we may be saved. Since moving to Moscow, Idaho, I have become a member at Christ Church.