Frank Kirkpatrick taught at Trinity from 1969 to 2016. A 1964 graduate of the college (majoring in Religion), Professor Kirkpatrick has a Master’s Degree in Comparative Religion from Columbia University and Union Theological Seminary (1966) and a Ph.D. in Religious Studies from Brown University (1970).  He specializes in three areas: the philosophy of religion, Christian social ethics, and the history of Christian thought in the West.

Professor Kirkpatrick sought to engage students in the ongoing conversations about religious and philosophical ideas that have influenced western civilization. He exposed his students to the original writings of major religious thinkers, having them discuss and debate the conflicts inherent in those ideas, and helping them to come to their own understandings and creative responses.