Charles Taber served as a missionary in the Central African Republic from 1953-1961. After completing his doctoral work in linguistics and anthropology at the Kennedy School of Missions at Hartford Theological Seminary, he worked for the American Bible Society for five years before going on to teach, first at Milligan College and later Emmanuel Christian Seminary (now Emmanuel Christian Seminary at Milligan) in Johnson City, TN.

Dr. Taber filled various roles in the American Society of Missiology, including chairing the Board of Publication and serving as president in 1985-86.

He was the editor of the journals Practical Anthropology and The Gospel in Context. He co-authored the textbook Theory and Practice of Translation with Eugene Nida. He was also the author of numerous journal articles as well as the books The world is Too Much With Us : "Culture" in Modern Protestant Missions (1991) and To Understand the World, to Save the World : the Interface Between Missiology and the Social Sciences (2000).

Dr. Taber died in 2007.