Bio

William A. Durbin is Assistant Professor of Ecclesiastical History and Academic Coordinator for the Program in Religion and Science at Washington Theological Union in Washington, D.C. In 1996, he earned his doctorate in Religion from Duke University, after a career in religious broadcasting and journalism. In that same year, Bill became Research Associate at the Center for the Study of Religion in American Culture in Indianapolis, contributing to the recently published ethnographic study, Religion on Campus. In 1998, he joined the faculty of WTU, a graduate school for ministry in the Roman Catholic tradition, where he teaches courses in Reformation and modern church history, the history of Christian spirituality, American Catholicism, and the relation of Christianity and the sciences. The latter course won a Templeton Course Award and Development Grant. Bill’s research focuses on the relation of scientific and religious explanations of life, particularly as this relation is worked out in historical context and expressed in the lives of scientists. As a Lilly Faculty Fellow in 2001-2002, he developed a biographical approach to the science-religion relation as a means to integrate this interdisciplinary field into ministerial education. His published work has appeared in Zygon, New Theology Review, and Christianity Today. His analysis of the science-religion relation in the United States will appear in a forthcoming book from the University of California Press. Bill lives in Takoma Park, Maryland with his wife Christine who is a physical therapist. They have three children.