Thomas E. Breidenthal

Thomas Edward "Tom" Breidenthal is the ninth and current bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio. Thomas E. Breidenthal was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, the son of Leslie T. and Ruth Veach Breidenthal. He was raised in Europe and the Midwest until his family settled in Eugene, Oregon. Breidenthal attended high school as a theater major at the Interlochen Arts Academy. He earned a B.A. from Portland State University and an M. A. in English Literature from the University of Victoria. He received his M.Div. from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in 1981. Ordained a deacon in 1981 and a priest on June 12, 1982, he has pastored or assisted congregations in Oregon, Oxford, England and New York, as well as serving as a high school chaplain. Breidenthal studied at Oxford University as an Episcopal Church Foundation Fellow, where he received the Doctor of Philosophy in Theology. From 1992 through 2001 he was the John Henry Hobart Professor of Christian Ethics and Moral Theology at The General Theological Seminary in New York City. For the following five years he was the Dean of Religious Life and of the Chapel at Princeton University. He was elected ninth bishop of Southern Ohio in November 2006, and consecrated on April 28, 2007. Breidenthal is the author of two books (Christian Households and Sacred Unions) and numerous articles. He serves on the boards of Kenyon College, Bexley-Seabury Seminary, and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, and has been involved throughout his ministry in civic engagement and ecumenical and interfaith dialogue. Bishop Breidenthal lives in Cincinnati with his spouse, Margaret Garner Breidenthal. They married in 1984 and have two adult daughters. On May 1, the Joint Nominating Committee for the Election of the Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church placed Bishop Breidenthal's name into nomination for election as the 27th Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church.