Dr. Childs received his baccalaureate degree from Maryville College. He received his M.Div., Th.M. and Ph.D. degrees from Princeton Theological Seminary. He previously was a Professor of Pastoral Theology at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia and the Clinical Ethicist and Professor of Bioethics at Georgia Baptist Medical Center in Atlanta. He is the author of eight books, numerous journal articles and book chapters and has editorial responsibilities for four scholarly journals. He is a past fellow of the National Endowment for the Humanities in medical ethics and the humanities. He is also a licensed marriage and family therapist in the state of Georgia.