Draft:Joseph Boot

Reverend Doctor Joseph John Boot
Reverend Dr. Joseph Boot
Born	(1974-03-09) March 9, 1974 Bexley, Kent
Nationality	British
Alma mater	Birmingham Christian College | University of Manchester | Whitefield Theological Seminary
Occupations	Theologian Pastor Author
Notable work	The Mission of God Think Christianly
Spouse	married to Jennifer (Jenny) Frances (née Nunn) Boot with three adult children
Ordination	Baptist Fellowship of Ontario and Quebec
Theological work
Tradition or movement	Calvinism, Reformed Theology
Main interests	Covenant theology, Christian nationalism, Theonomy, Christian world and life view, Reformational philosophy, cultural reformation, sphere sovereignty, Classical Christian education, presuppositional apologetics, Herman Dooyeweerd, Cornelius van Til, Evan Runner, R. J. Rushdoony, Blaise Pascal, Søren Kirkegaard, the Puritans, postmillennial eschatology, arguments against Two Kingdoms Theory
Website	https://www.ezrainstitute.com/

Joseph John Boot (born March 9, 1974) is a Christian thinker, apologist and cultural philosopher. Boot is known for his writing and speaking on Christian worldview and apologetics, Christian philosophy of culture, Reformational theology, Classical Christian education and his commentary on current affairs. He has written several books on the Christian faith, biblical worldview and the intellectual, cultural and political implications of the claims of Christ (such as Think Christianly, The Mission of God and Ruler of Kings). He has participated in notable public debates with atheists including Christopher DiCarlo and Dan Barker. He is a proponent of presuppositional apologetics, reformational philosophy, theonomy, biblical law and Kuyperian sphere sovereignty.

He is Founder and President of the Ezra Institute for Contemporary Christianity with offices in Canada, the USA, and United Kingdom (where it is called The Ezra Centre for Christian Thought). In the US, he is adjunct instructor for culture and apologetics at Bryan College, Tennessee, Senior Fellow of the think-tank truthXchange and Senior Fellow of the Centre for Cultural Leadership. In the UK, he is senior lecturer at the Wilberforce Academy and adviser on Public Theology for Christian Concern. He also served as founding pastor of Westminster Chapel, Toronto for fourteen years and the founding chancellor of Westminster Classical Christian Academy, Toronto.

Early Life and Education

Joseph Boot was born on 9 March, 1974 in the parish of Bexley in the county of Kent, England and was brought up in Wiltshire where his father, Michael Boot, was a church-planter and pastor before going to Pakistan as a missionary. Boot attended Devizes School where he founded a student Christian Union and developed an interest in philosophy and apologetics whilst doing an A-Level in religious studies. He went on to study Theology at Birmingham Christian College (then Birmingham Bible Institute); he graduated in theology in 1994.

Boot went on to obtain a Master of Arts degree in Mission Theology (in 2010) with a dissertation on Christian cultural theology exploring the thought of American-Armenian scholar, R. J. Rushdoony from the University of Manchester. In 2014 he earned a Doctor of Philosophy from Whitefield Theological Seminary, Florida with a dissertation on Christian Intellectual Thought and the Missio Dei.

Career

Boot began his career in 1996 as an evangelist with Saltmine Trust in Dudley and also worked alongside Anglican evangelist J.John with whom he launched a Christian apologetics video series called With No Apology. In 2001, after three years as Director of Evangelism for Christchurch, Fulham, London,  Boot worked for the Christian apologetics organization, Zacharias Trust (RZIM), for several years, initially in Oxford, England and then from 2003-2008 in Toronto, Canada as the executive director and senior apologist. In 2008 he became the founding pastor of Westminster Chapel, Toronto. Here Boot and his wife Jennifer established Westminster Classical Christian Academy (2014) where he served as founding chancellor. In 2009 Boot founded the Ezra Institute for Contemporary Christianity (EICC), a Christian worldview and apologetics think-tank and training organization which has grown to become an international ministry with centres in Canada, the United States and Great Britain. At the Ezra Institute, Boot writes and speaks to engage culture, leads worldview and cultural apologetics training programmes and conferences, runs academies for young professionals, and hosts worldview leadership courses for high-school aged students with a focus on the worldview of scripture and cultural reformation.

Boot is the author of several books on theology, culture and apologetics. He is the founder of the journal Jubilee and writes frequently on his blog, Joe Bloggs. He has contributed articles to numerous online and print magazines and journals including The Gospel Coalition, Christian Concern, Compass, The Centre for Cultural Leadership, Christ Over All, Clear Truth Media and the Fight Laugh Feast Network. As well as speaking on his personal weekly podcast, The Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Boot regularly features as a guest speaker at conferences, university events, seminaries, churches and on other podcasts in many different countries.

In 2011 he was honoured by Toronto’s Centre for Mentorship and Theological Reflection (Founded by Dr Dennis Ngien at Tyndale University, Toronto) as Best Preacher-Apologist for his contribution to apologetic and expository preaching.

Controversies

• In 2020 Boot hosted a summit on the Niagara peninsula for pastors concerning the freedoms of the church in relation to the state and drafted the controversial Niagara Declaration which received nearly 300 signatures of church leaders and elected officials in Canada. 
• In 2023, CBC news ran a critical front page story and documentary (Front Burner), which identified the Ezra Institute as ‘the think-tank of the Christian Right’ in Canada.

Debates

Boot has spoken at many public debates defending the Christian faith and biblical worldview, some of the most notable include:

• On 22 January 2009, Boot debated Professor Christopher DiCarlo at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology on the topic “Does God Exist?”
• On 22 September 2009, Boot debated Professor Ronald De Sousa at the University of Ottawa on the question “Does God exist?”
• On 7 March 2013, Boot debated Dan Barker at the University of Windsor, Ontario, on the topic “Is There Life After Death”?
• On 7 February 2014, Boot discussed the uniqueness of the Christian faith at The Veritas Forum at the University of Waterloo, Ontario
• On 8 April 2020, Boot debated Michael Jones of Inspiring Philosophy at Redeemer University, Ontario, over the question “Is evolution compatible with the Bible?”
• On 5 April 2024, Boot debated Harry Amos in Aylesbury for the Aylesbury Vale Youth for Christ conference. The debate was titled “The Resurrection: Fact or Fiction?”

Personal life

Personal Life

Joseph Boot married his wife Jennifer Frances Nunn in 1998. She is an actress, director, choreographer and drama teacher (Elmhurst Ballet School, Royal Central School of Speech and Drama) and they have three adult children. Joseph plays the piano and guitar, is a keen sportsman including soccer, tennis and clay pigeon shooting and was lead guitarist in a touring evangelical gospel band with his brothers called The Boot Brothers Band until 1996. Joseph and his wife travel extensively, frequently working together at Ezra’s training programs in North America.  In 2022, after nineteen years in Canada, the Boots returned to the UK where they reside in Hertfordshire and from where Joseph leads the international work of Ezra.

Published work

Rev Dr. Joseph Boot has authored and contributed to multiple books since 2002. Select publications include:

Author

•  Boot, Joseph; John, J. (2003). Searching for Truth: Discovering the Meaning and Purpose of Life. Wheaton: Crossway. ISBN 9781581345117
• ——— (2007). How Then Shall We Answer? Reflections on the Art of Christian Persuasion. Chichester: New Wine Press. ISBN 9781903725818
• ——— (2016). The Mission of God. London: Wilberforce. ISBN 9780957572560
• ——— (2016). Gospel Culture: Living in God's Kingdom. Toronto: Ezra Press. ISBN 9780994727916.
• ——— (2018). Gospel Witness: Defending and Extending the Kingdom of God. London: Wilberforce. ISBN 9780995683266
• ——— (2018). For Life: Defending the Unborn. Grimsby: EICC Publications. ISBN 9780994727985
• ——— (2018). For Mission: The Need for Scriptural Cultural Theology. Grimsby: EICC Publications. ISBN 9781989169025
• ——— (2020). For Government: Toward A Christian View of Authority. Toronto: Ezra Press. ISBN 9781989169124
• ——— (2021). For Politics: The Christian, the Church and the State. Grimsby: EICC Publications. ISBN 9781989169155
• ——— (2021). For the Kingdom of God. Grimsby: EICC Publications. ISBN 9781989169148
• ——— (2021). Why I Still Believe: A Journey into Christian Apologetics. Toronto: Ezra Press. ISBN 9781989169094
• ——— (2022). Ruler of Kings. London: Wilberforce. ISBN 9781916121133
• ——— (2022). A Time to Search. Toronto: Ezra Press. ISBN 9789781989162
• ——— (2023). For Reformational Thinking: Developing an Undivided Heart. Toronto: Ezra Press. ISBN  9781989169223
• ——— (2025). Think Christianly: Developing an Undivided Mind. Toronto: Ezra Press. ISBN t.b.c.

External links

• Joseph Boot, Joe Bloggs

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