I am Professor Emeritus of Theology and Ethics at Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis, Indiana having retired in June 2000.
A native of Oklahoma, I have received degrees from the University of Oklahoma [B.A. (Philosophy) 1958], Yale Divinity School [B.D./M.Div. (Theology) 1961], Yale Graduate School [M.A. ’63, Ph.D. (Philosophical Theology) 1970].
I have enjoyed a long career in theological education, having taught at three seminaries: Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University [1965-75]; Phillips University Graduate Seminary [1975-88]; and Christian Theological Seminary [1988-2000]. I served Phillips as seminary dean [1975-79] and then as university president [1979-88], and I was dean at CTS for four years [1988-92].
My books and writings arise from these many years of teaching theology, but especially from the time spent at CTS teaching a yearlong course in systematic theology. Notes from that course grew over time until they required two volumes of Xeroxed text, distributed by the CTS Bookstore, to contain them. These two volumes were the basis of the book, A Grammar of Christian Faith: Systematic Explorations in Christian Life and Doctrine, 2 vols., Rowman and Littlefield, 2002. Two other books, as collections of writings, published by Wipf & Stock, Cascade Books, are On Being the Church of Jesus Christ in Tumultuous Times, 2005, and A Lover’s Quarrel: A Theologian and His Beloved Church, 2014.
I am an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). In October of 2003 Yale Divinity School honored me with the Distinguished Alumni Award for Excellence in Theological Education. For the academic year 2005/06, I was Visiting Professor of Theology at Yale Divinity School.
I live in an apartment at the Epworth Villa retirement center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.