Dr. Richard Osmer was raised in the First Presbyterian Church of Greensboro, North Carolina. He attended the University of North Carolina on a Morehead Scholarship, where he graduated Magna cum laude. He then studied at the Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard Divinity School and received his M.Div. at Yale Divinity School. He served churches in the mountains of western North Carolina before returning to Emory University for his doctoral work in the Theology and Personality Ph.D. program.

Dr. Osmer is currently an ordained Presbyterian minister and a member of the Salem Presbytery. He is the Thomas W. Synott Professor of Christian Education at Princeton Theological Seminary and the director of the School of Christian Education.

Dr. Osmer recently served as Chair of the General Assembly Committee to Write a New Catechism. The report of the committee and two new catechisms were adopted and approved for use in the church at the 1998 General Assembly in Charlotte, North Carolina. The two new catechisms are entitled:

• Belonging to God: A First Catechism
• The Study Catechism.

Dr. Osmer is the author of numerous articles and three books:

• A Teachable Spirit : Recovering the Teaching Office in the Church
• Teaching for Faith : A Guide for Teachers of Adult Classes
• Confirmation : Presbyterian Practices in Ecumenical Perspective