Young Clergy: A Biographical-Developmental Study

by Donald Capps, Andrew J Weaver (Editor)

Five historic ministersfive formative career pathswhich path are you on?

According to Daniel Levinson’s developmental theory, each person’s professional career path forms at the same time in their life, in their 20s and 30s. Young A Biographical and Developmental Study applies Levinson’s study to ministerial practice, mapping the career patterns of five historical ministers during that time period in each life. The author clearly presents deep psychological insightssupported by solid biographical information on each minister’s actions and reactions to challengesillustrating how the theory holds relevance for young professional clergy even today.

Young A Biographical and Developmental Study reviews each minister’s Novice Phase, where the major tasks of forming a dream, forming mentor relationships, and forming an occupation are presentedand stringently supported by concrete biographical events. The book then shows how this phase leads each from their early adult transition through their entrance into the adult world, and then on to the life-altering events in the Age 25 Shift and the Age 30 Transition. From there the text reveals the formative Settling Down Period through events that unfold between the ages of 33-40. The author discusses how this period determines the subsequent course of each one’s career and, more importantly, shapes each one’s attitudes, values, and convictions of a life as a minister. Using fascinating biographical information from multiple sources, the author builds a well-reasoned case that no matter how long ago these important men lived, their career patterns and lives hold a wealth of insightful information to help you maximize strengths and minimize liabilities in your own career and life today.

Young A Biographical and Developmental Study closely examines these five historical figure’s biographies, and reviews each applicable theoretical career Young A Biographical and Developmental Study is an in-depth historical and psychological exploration of the lives of ministers and their relevance for present day clergy, perfect for professors, seminary deans of students, field education directors and their staffs, hospital chaplains involved in vocation issues, young pastors and their pastoral supervisors, and teachers of church history.

270 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Donald Eric Capps was born in Omaha, NE, USA on January 30, 1939. After studying at Lewis & Clark College (B.A. 1960) and Yale Divinity School (B.D. 1963, S.T.M. 1965) and University of Chicago (M.A. 1966), he earned his Ph.D. also at the University of Chicago in 1970. His dissertation explored a psycho-historical analysis of the personality of the English theologian John Henry Cardinal Newman, and particularly his vocational struggles.
His academic career started as Instructor at the Department of Religious Studies at the Oregon State University during the Spring/Summer of 1969. He then became Instructor and Assistant Professor at the Divinity School of the University of Chicago between 1969 and 1974. Later, he was appointed Associate Professor at the Department of Religious Studies of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where he lectured between 1974 and 1976. Between 1976 and 1981 he was Associate Professor and then Professor at the Graduate Seminary of Phillips University.
In 1981 he joined the faculty of Princeton Theological Seminary, where he was appointed the William Harte Felmeth Professor of Pastoral Theology. In May 2009 he retired with the status of Professor emeritus[2] but remains lecturing as adjunct.[3] In 1989, the Uppsala University, Sweden awarded him a degree of Doctor honoris causa in Theology for his contributions to the Psychology of Religion.[4]
Other honors include the William F. Bier Award for contribution to Psychology of Religion, granted in 1995 by the Division 36 of the American Psychological Association; the Helen Flanders Dunbar Centennial Award, granted in 2002 by the Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital in New York; and the Joseph A. Sittler Award for Theological Leadership, granted in 2003 by Trinity Lutheran Seminary.
He was the book review editor for the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion between 1980 and 1983 and editor for the same journal between 1983 and 1988. Furthermore, between 1990 and 1992 he was the president of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion.
He is an ordained minister of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America since 1972. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_E...)