Rev. Dr. Stephen Butler Murray   
Dr. Murray earned the B.A. in philosophy and religion from Bucknell University, the M.Div. from Yale University Divinity School, and the M.Phil. and Ph.D. in systematic theology from Union Theological Seminary in New York City, a Protestant seminary historically affiliated with Columbia University. He received his Clinical Pastoral Education training at the Yale-New Haven Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut, trained as a rape crisis counselor at Susquehanna Valley Women in Transition in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, and studied theatre at King’s College, University of London in association with the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Barbican Center in London. In college, he excelled as a debater, ranking among the top three debaters and public speakers at the World Universities Debating Championships and the National Parliamentary Debate Championships his senior year. He also was an activist on the topic of sexual assault on college campuses.

A past President of the North American Paul Tillich Society, he currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Dwight Hall Center for Public Service and Social Justice at Yale University. He was a founding member of the Board of Directors of the Capital Region Theological Center in Albany, New York, and is a former member of the Alumni/ae Council at Union Theological Seminary in New York. From 2004-2007, he was a denominational delegate to the General Assembly of the National Council of Churches.

Dr. Murray is active as a scholar in the fields of historical and systematic theology, Christian ethics, homiletics, and interfaith dialogue. Along with articles in academic journals and chapters in books, he was co-editor with David L. Bartlett and Claudia Highbaugh of the book, Crossing By Faith: Sermons on the Journey from Youth to Adulthood (Chalice Press, 2003), which was compiled in honor of Harry Baker Adams, a longtime preaching professor at Yale Divinity School and a former University Chaplain of Yale University. He is the author of the forthcoming book, Reclaiming Divine Wrath: The History of a Christian Doctrine and Its Interpretation, a critique of contemporary misuse or dismissal of a biblical aspect of God. Currently, he is working on two other books, one for ministers titled Preaching in Times of Tragedy, while the other is an academic text tentatively titled The Social Dimensions of Sin. In 2008, he delivered the Smith Lecture in Reformed Church History at New Brunswick Theological Seminary, and served as a Chaplain-of-the-Week at the Chautauqua Institution. In 2005, he was awarded a Worship Renewal Grant from the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship for the project, “Renewing Liberal Arts College Worship Through the Arts.”

Here at the First Baptist Church of Boston, Dr. Murray looks forward to working with our congregation and our neighbors to develop a lively array of faithful ministries, from celebrations of religion and the arts to a deep concern for urban poverty.

Dr. Murray lives on the North Shore with his wife, Cynthia, an accomplished harpist and doctoral student in clinical psychology whom he met in seminary, and their son, Hunter.

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