Ronald L. Farmer

Ronald L. Farmer, an experienced educator and campus minister, became the first Dean of the Chapel in August 1997. He also serves as an Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Chapman University. A graduate of Oklahoma Panhandle State University (B.S.) and Southwestern Theological Seminary (M.Div., Ph.D.) where he received the “Stella P. Ross Memorial Award for New Testament,” Dr. Farmer began his teaching career in 1982 at the University of Missouri. In addition to teaching full time in the Religious Studies Department, he also served as a Campus Minister and as the Chief Advisor for Interdisciplinary Studies. While in Columbia, Missouri, he was a charter member of the Columbia Interfaith Peace Alliance (a peace through justice group) and founded the Mid-Missouri Process and Faith Group (an ecumenical theological discussion group).

In 1992 he moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he and his wife, the Rev. Patricia Adams Farmer, served as Co-Ministers of the Walnut Hills Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Under their leadership this inner-city congregation doubled in size in less than five years. Drawing upon his experience at the University of Missouri, he helped to create and then chaired the Religious Studies Program at the University of Cincinnati. He also served on the Board of Ecumenical Campus Ministries of Greater Cincinnati.

In addition to teaching and ministry at Chapman University, Dr. Farmer is active in scholarly research. He chaired the Bible and Contemporary Theologies Group of the Society of Biblical Literature, serves on the Advisory Council of the Process & Faith Program, and is a contributing editor for Creative Transformation magazine. His publications include Beyond the Impasse: The Promise of a Process Hermeneutic (1997), the first book-length exposition of this promising interpretive method; Revelation in the series Chalice Commentaries for Today (2005); and a mystery/suspense novel, Awakening (2009), in which “recent discoveries in the study of human consciousness, physics, and spirituality converge with life-altering force.” He has also written over four dozen essays, articles, and book reviews in various journals and books, and has delivered numerous papers, lectures, and seminars in the areas of biblical studies, hermeneutics, and ethics. He appeared in a two-hour History Channel documentary, for which he also served as a history consultant. Currently, he is working on his second novel and co-editing (with Marjorie Hewitt Suchocki) a collection of essays written by Jewish, Christian, and Muslim leaders tentatively entitled The People of the Book: Interfaith Dialogue in a Small World. Additional information is available on his personal website, www.ronaldlfarmer.com.