Iain Provan is the Marshall Sheppard Professor of Biblical Studies at Regent College, where he has taught since 1997. Prior that that he taught at the University of Edinburgh from 1989-1997, as well as the University of Wales and King’s College London.  His most recent publications are The Reformation and the Right Reading of Scripture (2017), Convenient Myths: The Axial Age, Dark Green Religion, and the World that Never Was (2013), and Seriously Dangerous Religion: What the Old Testament Really Says and Why It Matters (2014). He has also written commentaries on 1 and 2 Kings, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs, and A Biblical History of Israel, co-authored with Phil Long and Tremper Longman. Iain is an ordained minister of the Church of Scotland, and he and his wife Lynette have four adult children. He is also a qualified Provincial B Licence soccer coach (Canada), an ARA-certified rowing coach (UK), and a keen fly fisherman. Visit his Regent faculty page.

Adrian Armstrong is Head of Bible Engagement for the Scottish Bible Society, and his great passion is for the people of Scotland to hear, read, experience and respond to the word of God. He read Business Studies and Law at the University of Edinburgh, and pursued a career in the corporate world following graduation, working for an international Bank. Adrian left banking to pursue theological education, obtaining an MDiv and ThM from Regent College, Vancouver. He is on the leadership team of Bellevue Chapel, Edinburgh and lives in the city with his wife Karen, and two children Alasdair and Kate.  He loves to walk and cycle, pausing to read, drink coffee and eat good food along the way. 

Sara Kandiah is Senior Eco Church Officer for A Rocha UK, a Christian charity that works for the protection and restoration of the natural world and is committed to equipping Christians and churches in the UK to care for the environment. She is Regent alumni, where she was inspired by their teaching on creation care and issues of social justice. This led her to work in the NGO international development sector with various Christian charities for the past thirteen years. Her passion is to work for a more just and sustainable world, and to make a positive difference to those who are most impacted by the fragile state of our planet.

Sara is also involved with her local church, where she serves on the PCC and, more recently, as chair of the mission group committee. Lockdown life has involved a lot of baking, walking in the local park, sowing a wildflower patch, growing a small herb garden, and enjoying watching the neighbourhood robins from her home office window.

Siobhan Johnson has worked for 14 years in the Port Industry after completing a degree in Transport and Logistic first in France and then Edinburgh.

She has been involved in the Abbey Summer School from the beginning and loves its focus on theology, creativity and community as well as the opportunity to meet people from all walks of life and think more deeply about spirituality and faith.

Siobhan is a keen sailor having sailed from a very young age with her parents on the traditional wooden boat that they built and launched just before she was born. As a teenager she sailed with the French Sail Training associations to the Azores and Mediterranean and more recently with friends around the UK and Caribbean.

Siobhan and her family are currently putting the final touches to the latest family building project, a 28ft wooden sailing boat based on the lines of a traditional Breton fishing boat. It has been 10 years in the making, but they are looking forward to sailing her later this year.

James Smoker is a PhD candidate at the University of St Andrews, Scotland, working with the Institute for Theology, Imagination and the Arts (ITIA). His project focuses on the poet and theologian Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and explores how the dark nature of Coleridge’s poetry shows him drawing closer to a mysterious, loving, and personal God. James is also an Associate Editor for Transpositions, the official journal of ITIA. Prior to his move to Scotland, James lived in Vancouver where he worked Regent College and earned his ThM and MA. He now lives in St Andrews with his wife, Siobhan, and three children Eilidh, Ian, and Sadie. Together they enjoy good books, making fry-ups and pancakes on the weekends, music, and exploring the byways and coastal paths of this old town.