Dr. James Thobaben is a professor and Dean of the School of Theology and Formation at Asbury Theological Seminary, one of the largest such institutions in the U.S. In addition, he currently oversees Institutional Effectiveness and Assessment, managing the decanal accreditation process for the institution. His academic fields are bioethics, social ethics, and sociology of religion. His special research interests include disability issues (especially traumatic brain injury related), social benefit from and concern with genetically-modified non-human organisms, the spiritual and cultural meaning of pilgrimage, ecclesial architecture, and rural life. As well as working full-time at Asbury, he serves as the pastor of a small, rural church, is a part-time professor in the University of Kentucky, College of Public Health, an adjunct professor at Trinity International University, and operates a small tree farm. Dr. Thobaben was Visiting Ethics Scholar in Molecular Biology at the University of Missouri. He is the recipient of several teaching grants for instruction on American rural life. His work, Healthcare Ethics: A Comprehensive Christian Resource, is used as a primary bioethics text in several graduate programs across the U.S. For both academic and spiritual reasons, Dr. Thobaben has twice walked the Camino de Santiago de Compostela and several of the long pilgrimage routes in Great Britain. Prior to assuming his current position, he was vice-president of a physical rehabilitation facility centered on the treatment of those with traumatic brain injuries and spinal cord injuries. His academic degrees are from Oberlin, Yale, and Emory.