Ralph D. Mecklenburger

Ralph Mecklenburger is author of two books, “Our Religious Brains” (2012) and “Why Call It God?: Theology for the Age of Science” (November, 2020).

In the Introduction to “Our Religious Brains” Mecklenburger explains how an undergraduate English major and then a graduate school student of theology gradually became an advocate for science in general and cognitive studies in particular as keys to understanding religion. Ordained a rabbi at the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati in 1972, he had already served three years as Assistant Rabbi at Temple Emanu-El in San Francisco, and 8 ½ years (9 football seasons!) as Rabbi of Temple Beth Emeth in Ann Arbor, Michigan when he accepted the position of Rabbi at Beth-El Congregation in Fort Worth and moved with his wife and two children to Texas.

A few years later the Mecklenburgers’ Kindergarten-age son was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder. Mecklenburger, anxious to understand what that term signified, read Daniel Dennett’s book "Consciousness Explained." The rabbi was fascinated! Over the next several years he moved well beyond ADD (now ADHD), reading books by leading neurologists, psychologists and philosophers. His fascination with the revolutionary field of cognitive studies only grew. As the way the brain works has dramatic implications not only clinically, but for helping explain how we learn, why we like the art and music that we do, investment decisions, and more, so AN UNDERSTANDING OF COGNITIVE STUDIES CAN OPEN MAJOR INSIGHTS INTO RELIGIOUS BELIEFS AND PRACTICES. “OUR RELIGIOUS BRAINS” PRESENTS SOME OF THOSE INSIGHTS.

The Introduction to Rabbi Mecklenburger’s more recent book, “WHY CALL IT GOD?: THEOLOGY FOR THE AGE OF SCIENCE,” updates the story. He mentioned philosophical God concepts as a believable alternative to personal God theism in the first book, but did not want that to distract readers from the major implications of cognitive studies. As readers ‘round the country responded, however, they asked more and more questions about God. Thus was born "Why Call It God?," like its predecessor a science-and-religion book, but with the balance tipped more to theology. One need not have read the first book to understand the second. THE BASIC QUESTIONS ADDRESSED ARE WHY RELIGIOUS PARTICIPATION IS DECLINING IN OUR ERA AND HOW CRITICAL THINKERS IN THE AGE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY CAN STILL APPRECIATE BIBLICAL PROPHECY AND FIND SPIRITUAL SUSTENANCE IN SCRIPTURALLY-BASED RELIGION WITH NO SACRIFICE OF THEIR INTELLECT.

Ralph Mecklenburger was born in Hartford, Connecticut and raised in suburban Chicago. He graduated magna cum laude from the University of Cincinnati in 1968 and was ordained a rabbi at the Cincinnati campus of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1972. In 1997 HUC-JIR awarded him an honorary Doctorate of Divinity, and in 2017 honored him with the delivery of the Founders Day Address in exercises at the Cincinnati campus.

Among his many honors, Rabbi Mecklenburger served as President of the Southwest Association of Reform Rabbis, has been a board member of the Central Conference of American Rabbis and of the National Conference of Christians and Jews, and currently serves on the board of the National Association of Retired Reform Rabbis. For many years he served as member and then co-chair of the Texas Conference of Churches’ Jewish-Christian Forum. He is an adjunct faculty member at Brite Divinity School at TCU, where he has taught courses in Introduction to Judaism and Jewish-Christian Dialogue.

In addition to his two books, Mecklenburger’s articles have appeared in many periodicals, among them Reform Judaism, CCAR Journal, The Orchard, The Presbyterian Outlook and The Christian Century. Of theological note, see "Reform Judaism and the Sanctity of Place" in Journal of Reform Zionism, Spring, 1995, and "In an Age of Broken Myths: Preliminary Thoughts Toward a Liberal Jewish Theology of Christianity" in CCAR Journal, Summer, 2007. He wrote a chapter on local Jewish history for Lone Stars of David: The Jews of Texas" (ed. Weiner and Roseman, Brandeis University Press, 2007).

Ralph and his wife, Ann, have two grown children, Elissa and Alan, both married, and four grandchildren.