Ryan Handermann

My education began in North Carolina, back in the 1980s, when my parents took the bold move of homeschooling their children. Through their love and care, I was inspired to continue my studies at our homeschool coop and beyond. In high school, I began to study Latin, Hebrew and Greek and continued this pursuit in college out in Idaho where I currently live. I have been married for over 10 years now with six children. We love our small town and church community. In the spring we hunt for morels in the Idaho mountains, in the summer we pick tart cherries for pie, in the fall we press apples for cider, and in the winter we get our seedlings started in the basement for the arrival of summer.

Teaching Philosophy

I want to fan the flame of study in my students. Teaching is more about the students doing the work than listening to myself drone on. The work of study means discipline, difficulty, challenge, sweat, and yes, sometimes blood and tears. I want all of this to be the fuel that tends the glowing coals of desire to become a flame that carries its heat and light throughout life. To put it simply, I want my students to love the world that God has made, and in that way, also find the beauty and love of God himself.

Statement of Faith

I am a reformed and evangelical Christian, committed to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Scriptures as the Word of God, the rule of faith and practice. I affirm the historic and orthodox creeds of the early church, as well as the Westminster Confession of Faith in the reformed tradition. I serve as one of the pastors at Trinity Reformed Church in Moscow, Idaho, which belongs to the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches.