I respect the rigors of serious conversation about and inquiry into matters of importance to our common life. I enjoy persons who exemplify a zest for living as well as a sense of humor. I understand the sincere quest for a truth by which to live life in a meaningful and authentic manner. I appreciate the beauty of the natural world.

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“In my teaching I seek to model for students a genuinely dialogical approach to the interpretation of the Christian theological tradition that allows us to engage this complex heritage with our critical questions and contemporary concerns while being open to the spiritual and moral challenges it poses to us.”

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“I am committed to understanding the implications of a thoroughgoing historical approach to the study of religion and theology. My concern is to develop a responsible theological perspective out of the resources of the Protestant tradition that can inform and sustain religious and moral values in an increasingly pluralistic world. My hope is that the historical study of our inherited religious traditions can lead to new possibilities of dialogue with an openness to those who are different from ourselves in order that we may work together toward building a humanly just and ecologically sustainable global community.”

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“Now more than ever there is a pressing need for a highly educated ministry that can give intelligent and thoughtful leadership to churches and that can also assist our broader culture to reflect self-critically upon the ultimate religious questions of the meaning and purpose of human life in the world.”

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“The fundamental calling of the church is to increase love of God and love of neighbor. Christians should be active participants in God’s good but fallen world, taking the side of the ‘least of these’ who are poor and oppressed.

“My biggest interest is to help interpret the Christian tradition for people. There’s a lot of confusion in the church as to what historic Christianity is all about.”