Educated in both the United States and Great Britain, Blackburn was called to the pulpit of the First Congregational Church of Barkhamsted, CT in 1981, and was subsequently ordained by his home congregation, Pilgrim Congregational Church, Glen Ellyn, Illinois.  In 1988 he was elected Executive Secretary of the Fellowship of Connecticut Congregational Christian Churches, a post he held until 1997.  He received his Ph.D. from the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, in 1999; his thesis was on the early Arabic versions of the Book of Job.

Blackburn served for five years on the World Christian Relations Commission of the N.A., chairing the Commission for two years.  His wife, the Rev. Susan E Wyman, pastors the Second Congregational Church of Hartford, Connecticut, where Blackburn is now Superintendent of Sunday School.  Currently he is Senior Lecturer in Modern Languages (Arabic) and Religion (Islam) at Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut.