About Us
Established in 2019 by Jordan Steffaniak and Brandon Ayscue, the London Lyceum has grown from a weekly podcast to the premier center for Analytic, Baptist, and Confessional Theology. While the London Lyceum continues to host podcasts it is now home to digital media channels on YouTube (Kiffin’s Keep and Generally Particular) and on our website where essays and reviews are hosted at the Ledger. The London Lyceum also founded a print publication division called Hanover Press in 2023 which publishes original Protestant academic theology and classic Baptist literature alongside our peer-reviewed journal, the Hanover Review.
The London Lyceum believes that by retrieving the wisdom from analytic philosophy, the Baptist tradition, and classical Protestantism as confessed in the confessional documents of the Reformed tradition we can promote more serious thinking for a serious church.
Our Mission
The London Lyceum seeks to foster serious thinking for a serious church.
Our Values
Charity, Curiosity, Critical Thinking, and Cheerful Confessionalism.
We pursue our mission by creating and sustaining an intellectual culture and ecosystem of charity, curiosity, critical thinking, and cheerful confessionalism. We do this by three primary means:
1. We seek to inspire thinking.
We do this by publishing and promoting original research. For example:
- We publish original academic monographs and classic Baptist literature through Hanover Press.
- We publish online essays, book reviews, and book recommendations.
- We publish an annual print academic journal at the Hanover Review.
- We publish a podcast dedicated to talking with experts in their fields of research.
- We host various events, including rigorous reading groups.
- We cultivate and provide an intellectual community through an online society of virtuous truth-seekers
2. We seek to inspire virtuous thinking. Since faith, hope, and love are fundamental to proper thinking
We pursue virtue by:
- Ingraining the meekness of wisdom exemplified in James 3:17 into our hearts and minds.
- Encouraging differing viewpoints in our podcast interviews, essays, and online society.
- Prioritizing friendship in our thinking since our goal is not to win arguments but to encourage virtuous thinking.
- Requiring love and respect for everyone and everything. Everyone, regardless of view, deserves both
3. We seek to inspire confessional thinking.
We do this by:
- Publishing and promoting material that encourages classical Protestantism and Reformed catholicity.
- Forming the John Gill Project.
The Founders
Jordan Steffaniak
Founder, President, Editor
Jordan Steffaniak is the President of the London Lyceum. He fulfills several roles, including host and producer of the podcast, editor of the website and journal The Hanover Review and more. He was raised in the St. Louis area and has lived in central Virginia, Louisville, Kentucky, and now Raleigh, North Carolina. He teaches as an adjunct for several institutions. He also works full-time in the finance industry as a business intelligence manager. He is married to his wife Sarah and they have three sons.
Jordan has an M.Div. from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and a Th.M. in Philosophy from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. While at Southern he learned of the wonder of historic Reformed Baptist confessions like the Second London Confession of Faith and also fell in love with philosophy and analytic theology thanks to one of his pastors. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Philosophy at the University of Birmingham (UK). He has authored numerous peer-reviewed journal articles as well as a book chapter. You can find links to most of these below. He also is currently writing two books and serves on the editorial board of the John Gill Project. You can find his CV here. He loves to read, write, podcast, weightlift in his garage gym, and play outside with his family. He also has a love-hate relationship with sports, loving the Jacksonville Jaguars, St. Louis Cardinals, and Carolina Hurricanes.
Popular Publications
Modern Reformation
The Gospel Coalition
The L. Russ Bush Center for Faith and Culture
- What is Theological Anthropology?
- Twenty Resources on Theological Anthropology
- Seminary Student, Don’t Get Too Comfortable in the Academy
- A Crisis of Trust (and What Christians Can Do About It)
- Gender and Christian Love
- My Antidote to Deconstruction: Confessions of a Near Exvangelical
The London Lyceum
- Creeds, Confessions, And Carroll: An Essay In Defense Of Baptist “Creedalism”
- Which Plato? Whose Platonism? Summarizing the Christian Platonism Symposium
- Natural Theology and the Uneasy Conscience of Modern “Calvinism”
- Sermon Plagiarism as Vice: A Short Exploration and Defense
- A Novel Argument Against Multi-Site and Multi-Service Church Models
Media Appearances
The Davenant Institute
Doctrine and Devotion
- Who was John Gill?
- The Value of Reading Aquinas (Jordan Steffaniak)
- Why Do Reformed Baptists Have a Bad Reputation?
- Jordan Steffaniak on Classical Theism
The Reluctant Theologian Podcast
- Craig Carter and Creatio ex Nihilo: Some Objections with Andrew Hollingsworth
Christ and Culture Podcast
Parker’s Pensées
Nicholas Noyola: Theology, Apologetics, Ministry
- Debating the Nature of Godwith R.T. Mullins
Covenant Podcast
Two Age Sojourner
All Things Bright and Beautiful
Peer Reviewed Articles
- “Resurrecting van Inwagen’s Simulacrum: A Defense,” International Journal of Philosophy of Religion (2023).
- “Retrieving Reformed Philosophy of Mind: Herman Bavinck’s Eclectic Harmonism as Gateway to Neo-Aristotelianism,” Evangelical Quarterly, 94, vol. 1 (2023): 1-25.
- Hollingsworth, Andrew and Jordan L. Steffaniak, “Craig Carter on Creatio ex Nihiloand Classical Theism: Some Objections,” Philosophia Christi, 23, no. 2 (2021): 249-69.
- “The Ordered Animal: Accountability, Teleology, and Human Nature,” Southeastern Theological Review, 13, no. 1 (Spring 2022): 95-107.
- “Saving Masculinity and Femininity from the Morgue: A Defense of Gender Essentialism,” Southeastern Theological Review, 12, no. 1 (Spring 2021): 15-35.
- “The God of All Creation: A Critique of Evangelical Biblicism and Recovery of Perfect Being Theology,” Journal of Reformed Theology, 14, no. 4 (2020): 358-80. https://doi:10.1163/15697312-bja10008
- “Multi-Church? Analytic Reflections on the Metaphysics of Multi-site and Multi-Service Ecclesiology,” TheoLogica: An International Journal for Philosophy of Religion and Philosophical Theology, 4, no. 1 (2020): 1-27. https://doi.org/10.14428/thl.v4i1.23653
- “Reforming Credobaptism: A Westminster Alternative for Baptist Identity,” The Journal of Biblical and Theological Studies, 4, no. 2 (2019): 280-300.
- “Participation in the Divine: The Method and Content of the Religious Epistemology of Jonathan Edwards,” Jonathan Edwards Studies, 9, no. 1 (2019): 63-83.
- “Ruled Knowing and the Problem of Evil: Is Free Will Theism Necessary?” Reformed Theological Review, 77, no. 3 (December 2018): 148-71.
- “Bound by the Word: John Calvin’s Religious Epistemology,” Puritan Reformed Journal, 10, no. 2 (July 2018): 120-36.
Brandon Ayscue
Vice President & Assoc. Editor
Brandon Ayscue is the Vice President of the London Lyceum and the Associate Pastor at Harriett Baptist Church in Henderson North Carolina. Brandon was born and raised in Henderson. He was married to his wife Caitie in November 2015 and they were blessed with their first son, Coley, in March 2017. Their second son, Haddon, was born in August 2019. Their third, Winston, was born in August 2022.
Brandon holds a BA from Campbell University. He is also a graduate of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, completing two Master’s Degrees (Master of Arts in Apologetics & Christian Philosophy and Master of Divinity). His hobbies include reading, hosting the London Lyceum, and playing sports. He also loves to talk sports, especially Panthers football and Hurricanes hockey. Brandon’s favorite bible verses are Matthew 11:28 and Psalm 34:8.
Endorsements
