World-Renowned Worship Scholar Dr. Lester Ruth Donates Career Collection to Regent University School of Divinity

October 1, 2026

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (Oct. 1, 2026) — Regent University’s School of Divinity celebrated the arrival of a landmark gift Monday, as Lester Ruth, Ph.D., Research Professor of Christian Worship at Duke Divinity School, formally donated his life’s collection of worship materials to the Regent University Library’s special collections.

The Worship Legacy of a World Expert

Ruth is widely regarded as the world’s leading authority on the history and contemporary practice of worship across a broad range of denominational traditions, and as the foremost scholar on the evolution of praise and worship associated with the Renewal Movement. His collection — more than 800 items documenting the emergence of contemporary worship over the past 70 years — is one of the most complete archives of Christian worship assembled by an internationally recognized scholar.

The gift is notable not only for its scope but also for its destination, with Ruth selecting Regent University for its reputation in worship scholarship and practice.

“Regent University School of Divinity exists to form leaders who can teach the Church to worship the Father, through the Son, and in the Holy Spirit, with both biblical fidelity and historical wisdom,” said Corné Bekker, D.Litt. et Phil., Dean of the Regent University School of Divinity. “The Lester Ruth Collection will strengthen that formation for generations to come, equipping our faculty and students with the primary sources needed to study how the Holy Spirit has moved among God’s people across the ages, and to teach the whole Body of Christ to worship in a manner worthy of the Triune God who alone is worthy of all praise.”

Regent Welcomes Dr. Ruth to Campus

The Sept. 28 presentation at the Regent University Library opened with a prayer from Bekker, who framed the occasion as a celebration of what the collection represents for the Church’s ongoing worship life and student scholarship. Ruth was then introduced by Jonathan Ottaway, Th.D., Assistant Professor of Christian Theology at the Regent University School of Divinity and a former student of Dr. Ruth’s at Duke Divinity School. Ottaway described Ruth as a rare synthesis of pastoral sensitivity, theological depth, and an ability to read the present moment of the Church.

In a special lecture that followed, Ruth reflected on the path that led him from a childhood in the Church, through college, to a faith deepened by the Gospels, Christian fellowship, and music. He described himself as driven by an overwhelming curiosity and a desire for his scholarship to serve the Church directly, enriching its worship by recovering a history he came to realize was, at the time, an almost entirely “unplowed field.”

That combination — a pastor’s heart and a historian’s eye for worship — is part of what drew him to Regent, he said, describing a shared sensibility with the School of Divinity’s own approach to worship.

“Why would a lifelong Methodist want his collection of materials about contemporary praise and worship to be at Regent?” Ruth said. “To put it simply, I think they can be of service to the Church through the work of a new generation of scholars [at Regent University].”

Ruth traced his work to two academic loves: the contemporary praise and worship movement and the ecumenical liturgical Renewal Movement. Together, he explained, they encouraged congregations to place fresh emphasis on the Lord’s Supper in worship.

According to his research, merging “the table of thanksgiving” with congregational praise depended on two elements: first, a robust, easily sung eucharistic song; and second, an extemporaneous eucharistic prayer. Ruth demonstrated the practice live, leading the room through Way Maker, by Sinach, with Ottaway singing and playing the piano. As the congregation participated, Ruth offered an overlapping prayer of thanksgiving that culminated in the celebration of Communion.

Bekker closed the gathering by inviting School of Divinity faculty forward to lay hands upon Ruth in prayer, asking that the flame of his life’s work and worship continue to burn through the future scholars his gift will now equip.

Following the celebration, attendees moved to the University Library’s special collections, where a prayer of dedication was offered over the newly housed materials. Library staff demonstrated how the collection had been cataloged and made available for digital browsing through the library’s online tools.

Stewarding Resources to Answer an Eternal Call

“Before the foundation of the world, the Father has always been worthy of worship, the Son has always been the eternal object of the Father’s delight, and the Holy Spirit has always proceeded in the perfect love shared between Them,” said Bekker. “Our call to worship is not an invention of any generation or movement; it is a participation in this eternal Trinitarian life, into which the Church has been graciously drawn by the Father, through the Son, and in the Holy Spirit. The Lester Ruth Collection serves this eternal call by giving our students the historical means to understand how the Church, in our own age, has sought to answer it faithfully.”

Once fully processed, the collection will remain available to Regent students, faculty, and visiting researchers through the University Library’s special collections, furthering Regent’s mission as a center of Christian thought and action, and empowering Christian Leadership to Change the World.

For information about worship-related programs of study offered by Regent’s School of Divinity and School of Communication & Arts, visit regent.edu/divinity or regent.edu/communication.

About Regent University

Founded in 1977, Regent University is America’s premier Christian university, with nearly 14,000 students studying on its 100-acre campus in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and online worldwide. The university offers associate, bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in more than 150 areas of study, including business, communication and the arts, counseling, cybersecurity, divinity, education, government, law, leadership, nursing, healthcare, and psychology. Regent University has been ranked the No. 1 Best Online Bachelor’s Program in Virginia for 14 years in a row (U.S. News & World Report, 2026) and the No. 2 Top Military Friendly^® School in the nation (Military Friendly^® Schools, 2024-2025).

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