P&R Publishing announced in February that Thomas J. Nettles, author of “James Petigru Boyce: A Southern Baptist Statesman” and professor of Historical Theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, has been selected as one of three finalists for the 2010 John Pollock Award for Christian Biography.

The John Pollock Award for Christian Biography is awarded each year by Beeson Divinity School at Samford University, and carries a cash prize of $5,000 to the author.

The winner will be announced in May and an award presentation will be scheduled for sometime in the fall. Typically, the presentation includes a public lecture by the selected author at the Samford University campus in Birmingham, Ala.

“James Petigru Boyce,” published in June 2009, chronicles Boyce’s founding of Southern Seminary. The biography focuses on Boyce’s theological development, his lifelong struggle in establishing the seminary and the theological controversies that shaped Baptists in the last half of the nineteenth century.

R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Seminary, called the biography, “A masterpiece, combining keen insights with a definitive historical account.”

Other finalists for the 2010 award are Herman Selderhuis for Calvin: A Pilgrim’s Life (IVP) and John Wigger for American Saint: Francis Asbury and the Methodists (Oxford).

Upon learning of the nomination, Nettles responded, “What an honor even to be included in this list.”

The Pollock Award was established in 2001 and is named for the British author of more than 30 books on religion, the majority of them being biographies of Christian leaders.

Recent recipients include Barry Hankins (2009) for Francis Schaeffer and the Shaping of Evangelical America (Eerdmans) and Jonathan Aitken (2008) for John Newton: From Disgrace to Amazing Grace (Crossway).