William McKinney
President and Professor of American Religion
Academic Credentials:
BA, Colby College, 1968; MA, Hartford Seminary Foundation, 1970; MDiv, Hartford Seminary Foundation, 1971; PhD, The Pennsylvania State University, 1979.
Quote:
“I am committed to helping PSR draw on its historic commitments to social justice in moving into a more active and visible national leadership role in renewing and transforming the progressive Christian religious movement through scholarship and leadership resources. PSR can be a place where social gospel liberalism, neo-orthodox themes and liberation theologies come together in a constructive dialogue. PSR Professor John Wright Buckham, in his Founders’ Hymn of 1916, recalled PSR’s founders as visionary people ’who served a world they could not see.’ This bold vision remains alive at PSR today.”
Profile:
How can we equip faith communities to play a vital role in public life? This question has driven Dr. McKinney’s research and education efforts in Protestant churches for more than two decades, and continues to inform his work as president at PSR. His focus is on leadership patterns in American Protestantism, congregational studies and issues in progressive Christianity. He is a sociologist and ordained minister in the United Church of Christ. His publications include American Mainline Religion: Its Changing Shape and Future (1987), The Responsibility People (1994), and Studying Congregations (1998).