Ronald Stephen Cole-Turner

Ronald Stephen Cole-Turner (born 1948) is an American theologian, ethicist, ordained minister of the United Church of Christ, and hymn writer whose academic work has concentrated on the relationship between Christian theology and developments in science and technology. He earned a B.A. in literature from Wheaton College and both an M.Div. and a Ph.D. in systematic theology from Princeton Theological Seminary. Before and alongside his academic career he served in church ministry, and his pastoral experience helped shape his interest in how theological ideas are expressed in congregational life.

Cole-Turner joined Pittsburgh Theological Seminary in 1996 and served there for twenty-five years, holding the H. Parker Sharp Professorship of Theology and Ethics. He is now professor emeritus. His scholarship has addressed genetics, biotechnology, human enhancement, evolution, and the theological meaning of emerging technologies. His books include The New Genesis: Theology and the Genetic Revolution, Transhumanism and Transcendence, and The End of Adam and Eve: Theology and the Science of Human Origins; with Brent Waters he coauthored Pastoral Genetics: Theology and Care at the Beginning of Life. He was also a founding member of the International Society for Science and Religion.

Cole-Turner’s work as a hymn writer is much smaller in volume than his theological scholarship but has had notable liturgical reach. His baptismal hymn “Child of Blessing, Child of Promise” was written in response to a United Church of Christ call for new inclusive-language hymns and first appeared in the 1981 supplement Everflowing Streams. The text later entered several denominational hymnals. Its success illustrates a recurring feature of Cole-Turner’s vocation: translating theological reflection into language intended for the worship and formation of Christian communities.