The Rev. Dr. Ronald Cole-Turner holds the H. Parker Sharp* chair of theology and ethics, a position that relates theology to developments in science and technology. His research focuses on genetics and biotechnology, particularly as they affect the meaning and the future of human life.

He is active in various science and religion organizations, having played a central role in organizing the International Society for Science and Religion, an honorary society of about 130 scholars that was chartered in 2002. He has served on the advisory board of the Metanexus Institute and recently completed a second term of service on the advisory board of the John Templeton Foundation.

Cole-Turner has lectured on campuses across the United States and in other parts of the world. He has appeared on television, radio, and is often quoted in newspaper articles on religion and biotechnology.

His books include The New Genesis (WJK 1993), Pastoral Genetics: Theology and Care at the Beginning of Life (co-authored Pilgrim 1996), Human Cloning: Religious Responses (ed., WJK 1997), Beyond Cloning: Religion and the Remaking of Humanity (ed., Trinity 2001), God and the Embryo: Religious Voices on Stem Cells and Cloning (co-edited, Georgetown 2003), and Design and Destiny: Jewish and Christian Perspectives on Human Germline Modification (MIT Press, 2008), as well as numerous articles and chapters in books.

Cole-Turner is an ordained minister of the United Church of Christ and has served various pastorates, including a time in campus ministry. He is a graduate of Wheaton College and Princeton Theological Seminary. He lives in Pittsburgh with his wife, Rebecca, a spiritual director and retreat leader. They have two grown daughters—Sarah, who is married to Hal Vincent, and Rachel.
 

*H. Parker Sharp, attorney and philanthropist, was a graduate of PeaBody High School, Harvard College, and Harvard Law School. By the end of his law career Sharp had attained the position of vice president and general counsel and board member at Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation. Sharp served for 12 years on the Board of Directors at PTS, many of those years as chairman for the Finance Committee.