Dr. Jerry Root is a graduate of Whittier College and Talbot Graduate School of Theology at Biola University, both located in Southern California. He received his Ph.D. from the Open University.

He has written The Surprising Imagination of C.S. Lewis: An Introduction, with Mark Neal and he is the author of C. S. Lewis and a Problem of Evil: An Investigation of a Pervasive Theme, and co-author of The Sacrament of Evangelism, co-author and co-editor of The Soul of C.S. Lewis: A Meditative Journey through Twenty-six of His Best Loved Writings, and co-author of Naked and Unashamed (a marriage counseling book published in May 2018). Furthermore, he is co-editor, with Wayne Martindale, of the bestselling, The Quotable C. S. Lewis. Jerry has contributed to many edited works about C. S. Lewis and has published numerous articles about Lewis, Evangelism, Discipleship, and Spiritual Formation.

Jerry is currently a Professor at Wheaton College and serving as the Director of the Evangelism Initiative as well as being a Faculty/Scholar Practitioner at the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College. He also teaches graduate courses (MA in Evangelism and Leadership Program) and undergraduate courses (Christian Formation and Ministry Department) at the College. In addition, Jerry has been a visiting professor at Talbot Graduate School of Theology and Biola University from 1990 to the present. Furthermore, Jerry has been teaching courses on C.S. Lewis for 38 years and has lectured on Lewis at 70 different academic institutions in 15 different countries.

His hobbies and interests include all things Lewisian, travelling, wine-making, and rich conversation with all he meets. He played some form of American football until he was 44, and coached football at Wheaton College for 10 years and was the head coach and player for the Oxford Bulldogs in Oxford, England. He loves virtual fear including turbulence on airplanes, skydiving, swimming with sharks, hammerhead stalls in biplanes and has, 100 times, done bungee jumping equivalents. Furthermore, he is an airplane fanatic and particularly loves WWI and WWII vintage airplanes.

He and his wife, Claudia, have four grown children-all of whom are married, and they have fifteen grandchildren.