Full-Time Faculty
Dr. Douglas R. Cullum
Vice President and Dean and Professor of Historical and Pastoral Theology
Dr. Cullum holds four graduate degrees and is an ordained clergyman. His earned degrees include: Ph.D., M.Phil., Drew University; Th.M., Duke University; M.Div., Asbury Theological Seminary; B.A., Asbury College.
Dr. Cullum’s teaching ministry emphasizes the seamless relationship between the academic and practical aspects of Christian theology. His desire is to assist the local church in finding renewal along biblical and classical lines. Having been active in ministry since 1978, Dr. Cullum served pastorates until 1994 when he was invited to come to Roberts Wesleyan College to serve as college chaplain and faculty member in the religion department. In 1998, Dr. Cullum became one of the founding faculty members of Northeastern Seminary at Roberts Wesleyan College. Areas of special interest include Wesley and the Methodist tradition, Reformation theology and history, liturgy and liturgical theology, 19th century American religion, and 20th century neo-orthodoxy. Professionally, Dr. Cullum participates in the North American Academy of Liturgy and the Wesley Studies Group of the American Academy of Religion.
Dr. Elizabeth L. Gerhardt
Professor of Theology and Social Ethics
Dr. Gerhardt’s earned degrees include: Th.D., Boston University School of Theology, 2000; Masters of Sacred Theology (STM), Boston University School of Theology, 1995; M.S.W., Rhode Island College, 1986; M.A., Religious Studies, Providence College, 1983; B.A., State University of New York at Geneseo, 1977.
Dr. Gerhardt has extensive background in the areas of theology, church history, and social ethics. Dr. Gerhardt’s research interests focus on the application of the theology of the cross to contemporary global justice issues and church response. Other topics of interest include: Martin Luther’s theology of the cross, Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s ethics and theology, women in church history, spirituality and social justice, and global violence against women. Dr. Gerhardt’s most recent publication is titled The Cross and Genocide: A Theological Response to Global Violence against Women and Children (InterVarsity Press, 2014).
Dr. Nelson J. Grimm
Director of Field Education and Professor of Applied Theology
Dr. Grimm’s earned degrees include: Ph.D. from the University at Buffalo; M.S., Canisius College; M.Div., Asbury Theological Seminary; B.A., Roberts Wesleyan College. His doctoral research considered the relationships between religiosity, spirituality, and life satisfaction.
Dr. Grimm brings to Northeastern Seminary extensive ministry experience — pastoring, conference superintendent within the Free Methodist Church of North America, and chaplain — as well as interacting with other pastors, churches, and organizations in leadership/advisory capacities. He has served as a member of the Ministerial Education and Guidance Board of the Genesee Conference of the Free Methodist Church, is a clinical member of the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education, and a member of the Evangelical Association of Theological Field Educators. Such expertise provides the Seminary with a strong internship program. Dr. Grimm teaches a variety of courses in the area of applied theology.
Dr. Rebecca S. Letterman
Associate Professor of Spiritual Formation
Dr. Letterman holds a Ph.D. in Linguistics, Cornell University; an M.A. in Linguistics, Syracuse University; an M.Div., Northeastern Seminary; and a B.A. in English, Roberts Wesleyan College. In addition, she holds an advanced Certificate in Formative Spirituality from the Epiphany Academy of Formative Spirituality, Pittsburgh, PA, where she also serves as an adjunct faculty member. Dr. Letterman was ordained through Covenant Church of Pittsburgh, 2004. Dr. Letterman’s current pastoral ministry at Community of the Savior Free Methodist Church provides an ongoing context for her interests to serve the church through the seminary academy. She regularly serves as a retreat leader and workshop leader in local churches. Dr. Letterman's research interests include the intersection of spiritual formation and theology; formative influences of language; formative treasures of the early church and what they have to offer the contemporary church; and the interrelationship between what the church has traditionally conceived of as “spirit” and the “body.” Dr. Letterman’s ministerial focus includes a special interest in serving as a bridge between various Christian communities and formation traditions.
Esau McCaulley
Assistant Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity
Esau McCaulley is a graduate of the University of the South (B.A.), Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (M.Div.), and Nashotah House (S.T.M.). He is currently a Ph.D. candidate in New Testament at the University of St. Andrews studying under the direction of N.T. Wright. His research interests include: Paul’s letters (especially Galatians), the New Testament use of the Old Testament, and Christology. He is an ordained Episcopal priest having served churches in Massachusetts, Virginia, Japan, and Scotland. He is married to Mandy. They have four children.
Dr. J. Richard Middleton
Professor of Biblical Worldview and Exegesis
Dr. Middleton holds the following degrees: Ph.D., Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam (in a joint-degree program with the Institute for Christian Studies, Toronto); M.A. in Philosophy, University of Guelph, Canada; B.Th., Jamaica Theological Seminary, Kingston, Jamaica. He has done additional graduate studies in the Old Testament at Colgate Rochester Divinity School, and in religious studies and philosophy at Syracuse University.
Dr. Middleton serves as adjunct professor of theology at Roberts Wesleyan College and adjunct professor of Old Testament at the Caribbean Graduate School of Theology in Kingston, Jamaica. He is past president of the Canadian Evangelical Theological Association (2011-2014).
Dr. Middleton is the author of A New Heaven and a New Earth: Reclaiming Biblical Eschatology (Baker Academic, 2014) and The Liberating Image: The Imago Dei in Genesis 1 (Brazos, 2005). He coauthored (with Brian Walsh) The Transforming Vision: Shaping a Christian World View (IVP Academic, 1984) and Truth is Stranger than It Used to Be: Biblical Faith in a Postmodern Age (IVP Academic, 1995), and has co-edited (with Garnett Roper) A Kairos Moment for Caribbean Theology: Ecumenical Voices in Dialogue (Pickwick, 2013).
Dr. Middleton is widely published in religious periodicals and journals. His current research includes Old Testament theology; the doctrine of creation; lament prayer and the problem of suffering; the dynamics of human and divine power in the books of Genesis, Samuel, and Job; and the relationship of biblical faith to contemporary science. His books have been published in Korean, French, Indonesian, Spanish, and Portuguese.