Theologians are often marginalized in public discussions about contemporary social, political, scientific, and technological issues in the United States. (Robert) Paul Ramsey (1913–1988) reminds us of an earlier era when particularly able American theologians were public intellectuals taken seriously by policy makers, the media, and members of the general public.

Life

Born the son of a Methodist minister in Mendenhall, Mississippi, on December 10, Ramsey would always maintain his Methodist connections but follow the path to a public pulpit as one of the leading ethicists of his generation. A 1935 graduate of Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi, he published his first essay that same year as a newly appointed teacher of history and social sciences at his alma mater. Departing in 1939 for Yale University, he graduated a year later with a bachelor of divinity degree and continued toward his Ph.D. As he studied under H. Richard Niebuhr (1894–1962), he...