about

Ray Waddle is an author, columnist, and the editor of Yale Divinity School’s Reflections journal, a publication that explores theological dimensions at work in current national issues.

He has written four books. His latest is a comprehensive history of Yale Divinity School, “This Grand Errand”: A Bicentennial History of Yale Divinity School, available from Yale University Press.

He is also author of Undistorted God (Abingdon Press, 2014), drawing on his journalistic religious encounters over the years in order to flesh out new angles on contemporary Christian experience; Against the Grain: Unconventional Wisdom from Ecclesiastes (Upper Room, 2005), offering commentary on the strangest book in the Bible; and A Turbulent Peace: The Psalms for Our Time (Upper Room, 2003), which meditates on each of the 150 Psalms.

He has written for The New York Times, Christian Century, Image journal, Huffington Post, and poetry for a variety of journals. He has a journalism (B.A.) degree from the University of Oklahoma and a religious studies (M.A.) degree from Vanderbilt University. He worked as religion editor at The Tennessean from 1984-2001, and has taught a writing course at Vanderbilt Divinity and a summer-session writing workshop at Yale Divinity School.