Who is David W. Gill? Here are four answers: (1) a one-paragraph “Intro” for hosts of events where Gill is speaking; (2) a one-page “Short Bio” for those who want more of the basics; (3) a ten-page “Intellectual/Professional Autobiography” describing the development of Gill’s ideas and convictions; and (4) a “Curriculum Vitae”—an academic “resume.” The complete story (in 450 pages) is in David W. Gill, What Are You Doing About It? The Memoir of a Marginal Activist” (Wipf & Stock, 2022).
Intro
David W. Gill (www.davidwgill.org) is an Oakland-based writer and speaker on Christian ethics and workplace/business ethics. He served forty years as an ethics professor at New College Berkeley, North Park University, St. Mary’s College, and Gordon-Conwell Seminary and is the author of ten books, most recently What Are You Doing About It? The Memoir of a Marginal Activist (2022) and Workplace Discipleship 101: A Primer (2020). His twin passions (vocational missions) have been (1) exploring, developing, and articulating a more radically biblical Christian ethic, especially related to work; and (2) exploring, developing, and articulating a more constructive approach to building ethically healthy organizations in a diverse, global marketplace.
One-Page Bio
David W. Gill (www.davidwgill.org) is a writer and teacher specializing in workplace/business ethics and Christian ethics. He retired from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Boston MA where he served (2010-16) as Mockler-Phillips Professor of Workplace Theology & Business Ethics and Director of the Mockler Center for Faith & Ethics. Prior to that he served six years as Professor of Business Ethics on the MBA faculty of St. Mary’s College of California (2004-10), nine years as Carl I. Lindberg Professor of Applied Ethics at North Park University in Chicago (1992-2001), and fourteen years as founder, Professor of Christian Ethics, and Dean or President at New College Berkeley, an interdenominational graduate school of theology for lay men and women (1976-90).
David received the BA (History) from the University of California, Berkeley (1968), the MA (History) from San Francisco State University (1971), and the PhD (Religion/Social Ethics) from the University of Southern California (1979). Several summers and two sabbatical leaves (June 1984-June 1985; January-July 2000) were spent in further research in Bordeaux, France. He is best known as a pioneer in the “faith at work” movement and as a scholar for his work on the thought of the French sociologist and ethicist Jacques Ellul. He is founding President (2000- ) of the International Jacques Ellul Society (www.ellul.org). He has lectured and read papers at many scholarly associations, guest lectured on dozens of university, college and seminary campuses, and consulted for many business, health care, and educational organizations. He has led retreats and workshops, preached sermons, and taught classes for hundreds of churches and campus fellowships over the past 50 years.
In addition to more than 200 articles, chapters, and reviews in many different journals, magazines, books and other publications, David is the author of The Word of God in the Ethics of Jacques Ellul (1984), Peter the Rock: Extraordinary Insights from an Ordinary Man (1986), The Opening of the Christian Mind (1989), Should God Get Tenure? Essays on Religion and Higher Education (editor, 1997), Becoming Good: Building Moral Character (2000), Doing Right: Practicing Ethical Principles (2004), It’s About Excellence: Building Ethically-Healthy Organizations (2008), Political Illusion & Reality: Engaging the Prophetic Insights of Jacques Ellul (co-editor, 2018), Workplace Discipleship 101: A Primer (2020), and What Are You Doing About It? The Memoir of a Marginal Activist (2022).
David was raised in the Plymouth Brethren. He was ordained at Allen Temple Baptist Church (Progressive National Baptist Convention) in his home town, Oakland CA. During 1990-92 he served as Interim Senior Pastor at University Covenant Church in Davis CA. During 2011–12 he was Interim Pastor at Trinitarian Congregational Church in Wayland MA. He also served as J. Omar Good Distinguished Visiting Professor at Juniata College (Huntingdon PA, 1994-95) and Visiting Professor at the Sodra Vaterbygdens Folkhogskola (Jonkoping, Sweden, Fall 1999). During 1998-2003 he was co-founder and co-director of the Institute for Business, Technology, and Ethics and from 2019 founder and director of Workplace 313 (www.wp313.org). He has also worked as a factory laborer, public school teacher, and journalist.
David was born in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1946 but has lived most of his life in Berkeley or Oakland, California. Since 1967 he has been married to Lucia (Paulson) with whom he has two children (Jodie (Gill) Hoffman and Jonathan Gill) and six grandchildren. The Gills are members of First Covenant Church in Oakland.