Session 4
Faith-Animating Character: Integrating Faith Language and Commitments into Character Development
L. Gregory Jones, President, Belmont University
How do emphases on character formation and virtue, often associated with Aristotle and other moral philosophers, relate to Christian faith commitments, including language about discipleship and holiness and the Fruit of the Spirit? Or in other words, what does Athens have to do with Jerusalem? We will explore the deep connections that can and should exist, showing how Christian commitments serve to animate a life-long commitment to the formation of character and a flourishing life that is faithful to God.
L. Gregory Jones is President of Belmont University, a position he has held since June 1, 2021. He was educated at the University of Denver (B.A. and M.P.A.) and Duke University (M.Div. and Ph.D.). Prior to serving at Belmont Greg served in a variety of leadership roles at Duke, including two stints as Dean of Duke Divinity School (1997-2010 and 2018-21), as Vice-President and Vice-Provost for Global Strategy and Programs, and as the Williams Distinguished Professor of Theology and Christian Ministry (now emeritus). He has also served in executive leadership as Provost and EVP at Baylor.
Greg is known as a leader and strategist whose creative engagement has helped institutions across the world and in local communities to create transformational resource models. He is known for an entrepreneurial mindset as well as emphases on character and purpose in higher education, emphases in his leadership at Belmont.
He is the author or editor of 19 books and has authored more than 200 essays/articles. He is known for books on forgiveness (Embodying Forgiveness and the co-authored Forgiving as We’ve Been Forgiven), Christian leadership (the co-authored Resurrecting Excellence) and social innovation (Christian Social Innovation). His most recent book is the co-authored Navigating the Future: Traditioned Innovation for Wilder Seas (2021).
Greg serves on the Boards of the John Templeton Foundation, the McDonald Agape Foundation, and the India Collective, as well as several boards in the Nashville community. He is an ordained minister in the United Methodist Church. He is married to The Reverend Dr. Susan Pendleton Jones, also an ordained United Methodist minister who currently serves in a variety of capacities at Belmont and in Nashville (including on the boards of The Store and The Next Door). They have three children, all married, and four grandchildren.