On the popular level, Esau’s memoir, How Far to the Promised Land, explores his family’s multigenerational search for hope and faith in an often poverty-stricken and racially hostile American South. It received distinction as one of Amazon’s top five non-fiction book of 2023 and a Publisher’s Weekly top five book in religion. He also wrote a book on the season of Lent and penned works for children, including Josey Johnson’s Hair and the Holy Spirit (IVP, 2022) and Andy Johnson and the March for Justice (Penguin Random House, 2024). The Alabama State Senate honored him with a special commendation “for his influential work and achievements in the faith community.”

Esau is a nationally recognized lecturer who has spoken on multiple campuses in the Consortium of Christian Colleges and Universities; at the nation’s top-ranked research institutions, including the University of Virginia, the University of Notre Dame, and Baylor University; and internationally at the University of Edinburgh, Oxford University, and the University of St. Andrews. In 2022, Esau was a featured speaker at the Aspen Ideas Festival. Esau holds a Ph.D. in New Testament from the University of St. Andrews, a Master of Sacred Theology from Nashotah House, an M.Div. from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and a B.A. from the University of the South. He continues to teach at Wheaton College, a job which he still considers his primary vocation. Esau is married to Mandy, a pediatrician and navy reservist. Together, they have four wonderful children.