Spurgeon Saturday: My PhD Defense

On this edition of Spurgeon Saturday, I’m thrilled to share that on this past Thursday, April 3rd, 2025, I defended my PhD dissertation on Spurgeon’s spiritual interpretation of the Song of Songs.

And passed!

My committee members included:

• Dr. Don Whitney (advisor, top left of TV)

• Dr. Michael Haykin (top right of TV)

• Dr. Jim Hamilton (left)

• And since Dr. Whitney couldn’t join us in Louisville at SBTS, I’m grateful Dr. Matt Haste (right) was able to join us as well.

• External Reader: Dr. Geoff Chang at MBTS.

The title of my dissertation is: The Treasury of Solomon: A Retrieval of Charles H. Spurgeon’s (1834–1892) Spirituality of the Song of Songs.

I cover Spurgeon’s spiritual, Christ-centered view of the Song of Songs, themes from the 81 sermons he preached on the Song, and I argue that the Song is his favorite book in the Bible. I present three major contributors to his view of the Song, as well has how Spurgeon preached Christ from the Song. I also tried to present a new term for how to conceptualize the hermeneutical and homiletical moves Spurgeon is doing when he sees and savors Christ from Solomon’s Song. And so much more!

I’m filled with gratitude—to God, to SBTS, to Dr. Whitney, my whole committee, friends and fellow students who kept wind in my sails, my parents, and my precious family. I’m rejoicing. And exhausted.¹

Since this is Spurgeon Saturday, this quote on perseverance—which doctoral studies require!—seemed only right to share:

“By perseverance the snail reached the ark. “

— C. H. Spurgeon

1. Part of my exhaustion comes from tornado sirens at 12:30am the night before my defense. And the defense began at 7:30am. I only got 4 hours of sleep! I’ll share more about the whole journey soon. If you are thinking about doing a PhD, do it SBTS. You will love it.