Douglas John Hall was born in 1928 in Ingersoll, Ontario, to John Darius Hall and Louisa Irene Sandick. He was schooled in Innerkip and Woodstock, Ontario. He married Rhoda Catherine Palfrey in New York City in 1960, and between 1961 and 1967 had four children.

Dr. Hall attended Woodstock Business College and the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto from 1948 to 1949 before attending to the University of Western Ontario. Dr. Hall received his Bachelors of Arts from the University of Western Ontario in 1953. From 1953 to 1960 he attended the Union Theological Seminary in residence in New York City where he took graduate studies in Systemic Theology, earning a Masters of Divinity in 1956, a Masters of Sacred Theology in 1957, and a Doctor of Theology in 1963. He was Ordained in Stratford, Ontario in 1956 and was the minister of St. Andrew’s United Church in Blind River, Ontario from 1960 to 1962. Following this he was made Principal of St. Paul’s United College at the University of Waterloo from 1962 to 1965. From 1965 to 1975 he was appointed the McDougald Professor of Systemic Theology at St. Andrew’s College in Saskatoon.

Dr. Hall joined the Faculty of Religious Studies at McGill University in 1975, teaching Christian Theology. He was promoted from Associate Professor to Full Professor in 1977. After his retirement in 1995, he was granted the status of Professor Emeritus in 1996 and remains a faculty lecturer at McGill University. During his time at St. Andrew’s College and McGill University, Dr. Hall also taught as a guest lecturer from the 1970s through the early 2000s in Germany, France, Japan and the United States.

Dr. Hall has received numerous honorary degrees, including an L.L.D. from the University of Waterloo in 1992, an S.T.D. from the Montreal Diocesan Theological College, and five D.D.s, awarded by Queen’s University in 1988, Presbyterian College, Montreal in 1995, Victoria University at the University of Toronto in 2003, Huron University College in 2008 and the United Theological College, Montreal. Dr. Hall also received the Order of Canada in 2003, honouring his contributions to the field of theology and his unique Canadian approach.

Dr. Hall has published over thirty books since 1972, as well as journal articles, booklets and many contributions to edited works. A number of his works have been reprinted and translated into both French and German. His most famous work is his Christian Theology in a North American Context trilogy, which includes Thinking the Faith (1989), Professing the Faith (1993), and Confessing the Faith (1996). Professing the Faith, Confessing the Faith, and his 2003 book The Cross in Our Context: Jesus and the Suffering World have all won the Academy of Parish Clergy award for the Book of the Year.

Dr. Hall is a member of the United Church, and his research is focused on Missiology, the study of mission work and missionaries, and Systematics, the orderly and rational study of religion and religious texts.