The Reverend Professor L. William Countryman is professor emeritus of Biblical studies at Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, California. Since ordination in 1965 he has served in a number of parishes in the United States as well as teaching at the University of Chicago, Southwest Missouri State University, and Brite Divinity School. He is actively involved in ministry at Good Shepherd Episcopal Church in Berkeley. Among his best known books are Dirt, Greed, and Sex, a study of sexual ethics in the New Testament and today and Living on the Border of the Holy, which explores the nature of ministry, lay and ordained.