Professor R. J. (Robert James) Berry was born on 26 October 1934 to Albert Edward James and Nellie (née Hodgson) Berry. He was educated at Shrewsbury School and Caius College, Cambridge where he progressed to M.A. He earned his Ph.D. and his Doctorate of Science from University College London in 1976. From 1978 until his retirement in 2000, he served as Lecturer, Reader and finally Professor in Genetics at the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine.

His many professional memberships include the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority (1990–1996), the Natural Environment Research Council (1981–1987), the Council of the Zoological Society of London (1986–1990), the British Ecological Society (1993–1995), and Christians in Science (1968–1988, 1993–1995). In 1981 Professor Berry was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Of Professor Berry’s many publications, the following are those most relevant to natural theology: Adam and the Ape: A Christian Approach to the Theory of Evolution (1975); Neo-Darwinism (1982); God and Evolution (1988); Real Science, Real Faith (as editor; 1991); God and the Biologist (as editor; 1996); God's Book of Works: The Nature and Theology of Nature (2003).

Professor Berry’s work within the General Synod of the Church of England also led to the following collaborative works: Church of England, Board for Social Responsibility, Our Responsibility for the Living Environment: A Report of the General Synod Board for Social Responsibility Gs718 (1986); Christians and the Environment (1991); and Personal Origins: The Report of a Working Party on Human Fertilisation and Embryology (1996).