In his previous career, Dr. Simons practiced law in Atlanta, Georgia, and Ocala Florida for more than ten years. His legal practice included commercial litigation, business law, health care law, and real estate law. In Fall of 2010, he stepped down from his legal practice to pursue advanced theological education. His research explores the intersection of church history, theology, and legal history. His dissertation focuses on the relationship between puritan theology and the work of the magistrates who governed the colonies of Connecticut and New Haven in the second half of the Seventeenth Century. He has taught in a variety of contexts at the undergraduate and graduate level.
John and his wife, Lynn, have three adult children. John enjoys woodworking and cycling. He is an avid fan of University of Florida athletics.
Education
BS, University of Florida
JD, University of Florida
MA, Reformed Theological Seminary
PhD, Trinity International University
Affiliations & Achievements
Meeter Center Student Research Fellowship. H. Henry Meeter Center. Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Hayek Fund for Scholars Travel Grant. Institute for Humane Studies.
Klauber Conference Fellowship. Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Church History Department.
G. Walter Hansen Fellowship. Carl F. H. Henry Center for Theological Understanding. Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.
Program Fellowship, Theological Studies. Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.
Gertrude Brick Law Review Apprentice Prize. Florida Law Review. University of Florida, Levin College of Law.
George W. Milam Outstanding Case Comment Award. Florida Law Review. University of Florida, Levin College of Law.
2000–Present Florida Bar Association.
1999–Present State Bar of Georgia.
Publications
2019 Robert W. Caldwell, III. Theologies of the American Revivalists From Whitefield to Finney. IVP Academic, 2017. 39 Trin. J. 102-04 (2019)
2018 Chad B. Van Dixhoorn. God’s Ambassadors: The Westminster Assembly and the
Reformation of the English Pulpit, 1643-1653. Reformation Heritage, 2017. 39
Trin. J. 256-58 (2018)
2016 William Perkins. J. Stephen Yuille, ed. The Works of William Perkins: Vol. 1. Reformation Heritage, 2014. 37 Trin. J. 286-88 (2016)
1998 Note: Is the Doctrine of Necessaries Necessary in Florida?: Should the Legislature Accept the Challenge of Connor v. Southwest Regional Medical Center?, 50 Fla. L. Rev. 933 (1998).
1997 Case Comment: Changing Assumptions: Disentangling Title I Remedial Education at Parochial Schools, Agostini v. Felton, 117 S. Ct. 1997 (1997), 49 Fla. L. Rev. 651 (1997).