BROWNING, Don S(pencer) 1934-

PERSONAL: Born January 13, 1934, in Trenton, MO; son of R. W. (a physician) and Nell Juanita Browning; married Carol Kohl; children: Elizabeth, Christopher. Education: Central Methodist College, A.B. (summa cum laude), 1956; University of Chicago, B.D., 1959,M.A., 1962, Ph.D. (with distinction), 1964.

ADDRESSES: office—Robert W. Woodruff Visiting Professor of Interdisciplinary Religious Studies, Emory University, 1301 Clifton Rd., Gambrell Hall G317, Atlanta, GA, 30322-2770. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Minister of Christian church in Kearney, MO, 1952-56; University Church of Disciples of Christ, Chicago, IL, minister of students, 1957-60; Illinois Children's Hospital School, Chicago, chaplain, 1960-61; William Healy School, Chicago, IL, counselor, 1962-63; Phillips University, Enid, OK, assistant professor of theology and pastoral care, 1963-65; University of Chicago, Divinity School, Chicago, IL, instructor, 1965-66, assistant professor, 1967-68, associate professor of religion and personality, 1968-78, professor of religion and psychological studies, 1978-80, Alexander Campbell Professor of Religion and Psychological Studies, 1980-2002.

MEMBER: American Association of Pastoral Counselors (fellow), American Academy of Religion, Society for the Scientific Study of Religion.

AWARDS, HONORS: National Book Award nomination in philosophy and religion, 1974, for Generative Man; Guggenheim Fellowship, 1974-75; Honorary Doctor of Divinity, Central College, 1984; fellow, Center of Theological Inquiry, 1990; Honorary Doctor of Divinity, University of Glasgow, 1998.

WRITINGS:

Atonement and Psychotherapy, Westminster (Louisville, KY), 1966.

Generative Man: Psychoanalytic Perspectives, Westminster (Louisville, KY), 1973.

The Moral Context of Pastoral Care, Westminster (Louisville, KY), 1976.

(Contributor) Peter Homans, editor, Essays in Divinity, University of Chicago Press, 1968.

William Oglesby, editor, Essays in Honor of Seward Hiltner, Abingdon (Nashville, TN), 1969.

Ralph James, editor, Process Theology Reader, Bobbs-Merrill, 1971.

Howard Clinebell, editor, Mental Health and the Church, Abingdon (Nashville, TN), 1971.

(Contributor) Peter Homans, editor, Erik Erikson and His Impact on Religious Studies, University of Chicago Press (Chicago, IL), 1975.

Pluralism and Personality: William James and Some Contemporary Cultures of Psychology, Bucknell University Press (Lewisburg, PA), 1980.

(Editor, with Donald Capps) Life Cycle Theory and Pastoral Care, Fortress Press (Philadelphia, PA), 1983.

Religious Ethics and Pastoral Care, Fortress Press (Philadelphia, PA), 1983.

(Editor and author of introduction) Practical Theology: The Emerging Field in Theology, Church, and World, Harper & Row (San Francisco, CA), 1983.

(Editor) Donald Capp, Pastoral Care and Hermeneutics, Fortress Press (Philadelphia, PA), 1984.

(Editor) Thomas C. Oden, Care of Souls in the Classic Tradition, Fortress Press (Philadelphia, PA), 1984.

(Editor, with Herbert Anderson) The Family and Pastoral Care, Fortress Press (Philadelphia, PA), 1984.

(Editor) Alastair Campbell, Professionalism and Pastoral Care, Fortress Press (Philadelphia, PA), 1985.

(Editor) K. Brynolf Lyon, Toward a Practical Theology of Aging, Fortress Press (Philadelphia, PA), 1985.

(Editor) Nelson S.T. Thayer, Spirituality and Pastoral Care, Fortress Press (Philadelphia, PA), 1985.

(Editor) Robert L. Katz, Pastoral Care and the Jewish Tradition: Empathic Process and Religious Counseling, Fortress Press (Philadelphia, PA), 1985.

Religious Thought and the Modern Psychologies: A Critical Conversation in the Theology of Culture, Fortress Press (Philadelphia, PA), 1987.

(Editor) Elaine Ramshaw, Ritual and Pastoral Care, Fortress Press (Philadelphia, PA), 1987.

(Editor, with David Polk and Ian S. Evison) The Education of the Practical Theologian: Responses to Joseph Hough and John Cobb's Christian Identity and Theological Education, Scholars Press, (Atlanta, GA) 1989.

(Editor, with Thomas Jobe and Ian S. Evison) Religious and Ethical Factors in Psychiatric Practice, Nelson-Hall in association with the Park Ridge Center for the Study of Health, Faith, and Ethics (Chicago, IL), 1990.

(Editor, with Ian S. Evison) Does Psychiatry Need a Public Philosophy?, Nelson-Hall Publishers in association with the Park Ridge Center for the Study of Health, Faith, and Ethics (Chicago, IL), 1991.

A Fundamental Practical Theology: Descriptive and Strategic Proposals, Fortress Press (Minneapolis, MN), 1991.

(Editor, with Francis Schussler Fiorenza) Habermas, Modernity, and Public Theology, Crossroad (New York, NY), 1992.

(With others) From Culture Wars to Common Ground: Religion and the American Family Debate, Westminster John Knox Press (Louisville, KY), 1997.

(Editor, with Max L. Stackhouse) God and Globalization, Volume 2, Trinity Press (Harrisburg, PA), 2000.

(Editor, with others) Marriage: Just a Piece of Paper?, Eerdmans (Grand Rapids, MI), 2002.

(With Gloria Rodriguez) Reweaving the Social Tapestry: Toward a Public Philosophy and Policy for Families, Norton (New York, NY), 2002.

Contributor of articles and reviews to theology journals, including Criterion, Dialogue, Christian Century, Pastoral Psychology, Journal of Religion, Theology Today, Interpretation, Encounter, and Christian Medical Society Journal. Editor, Pastoral Psychology, March, 1968, and November, 1969.

ADAPTATIONS: Marriage: Just a Piece of Paper? was adapted as a documentary by PBS in 2002.

WORK IN PROGRESS: Globalization, Marriage, and Families, for William B. Eerdemans; (editor, with David Clairmont) Families and American Religion: Comparative Family Ethics and Strategies of the Major American Faiths; (editor, with M. Christian Green and John Witte, Jr.) Sex, Marriage, and Family in the World Religions: A Reader, for Columbia University Press.

SIDELIGHTS: In a Christian Century review of Atonement and Psychotherapy, Daniel Day Williams commented: "Don S. Browning has written an admirable book on the atonement to show how Christian doctrine can be analyzed and illuminated on the basis of the insights offered by psychotherapy….Browning's critique of traditional theological doctrine is sharp and constructive. He shows not only that theology can learn from psychology but that theology brings an integrity and insight to life which can illuminate man's condition and his hope." Clark M. Williamson of Encounter called the book "one of the most significant theological works yet to have been produced by any writer in the area of pastoral care and counseling." He continued: "This is an important, creative and constructive work and will undoubtedly serve the helpful purpose of enabling many pastors and counselors to see their ministry in its relation to the atoning work of Jesus Christ as theologically interpreted; at the same time, it will help many theologians to comprehend the ministerial and therapeutic significance of their theological work. It should help us all to see the work of the ministry in more holistic and adequate terms."

In 1999 Browning's Religion, Culture and Family Project at the University of Chicago produced a book, From Culture Wars to Common Ground: Religion and the American Family Debate. "It is rare for a just-published book to be immediately considered a potential classic in Christian theology and thought," wrote Stephen Post of the Journal of Religion, but Culture Wars is one such book, he added. In this work the authors "defend the Christian normative model of 'the committed, intact, equal-regard, public-private family,'" according to Post. "Though media and church debates suggest that the most pressing sex-related issues today are homosexuality, sexual violence and abortion," noted Garrett Paul in a Christian Century review, the authors "argue that there is something more urgent: the crisis of the family. And mainline churches have been extraordinarily slow to respond to that crisis." Culture Wars identifies what it calls four "massive social and cultural trends" that have had an effect on the American family. They are: "heightened individualism," "the increased role of market forces and government bureaucracies in family life," the "powerful psychological shifts caused by these forces," and the "lingering influence" of patriarchy. Combined, according to Paul, "these forces greatly weaken the essential commitments that allow families to survive, let alone thrive."

In the view of Theological Studies contributor John Coleman, "the metaphor of 'common ground' in the title refers to the fact that the authors see great wisdom in contemporary pro-family voices. Pro-family conservatives refuse to privatize marriage; they see its public role. They also see what the authors call 'the make problematic.'" But, Coleman continued, the authors' sympathies do not extend to "single-parent families or to gays and lesbians. They fail to champion full equality, or what feminists would call 'family justice.' They fail to see the public need for government support and policy, e.g., for child care." Nonetheless, Coleman recommended Culture Wars to pastors, clergy members, theologians and ethicists who the critic said "would profit from this eminently sensible and compelling book." Paul noted that each author was a theologian, though they represented diverse backgrounds. "This helps account for one of the book's most impressive achievements," he said. "That it goes beyond the gridlock and one-sidedness that characterize most debates about sexuality and families."

In 2002 Browning and Gloria Rodriguez produced Reweaving the Social Tapestry: Toward a Public Philosophy and Policy for Families. The book is based on the platform that out-of-wedlock births and rising divorce rates have transformed the American family. While some conservative pundits would cry moral degeneracy, while more liberal thinkers would testify to diversity and progress, the authors "[reject] the oversimplifications of both the Right and the Left," said Booklist's Bryce Christiansen. Instead, Browning and Rodriguez "interpret widespread family disruption as the consequence of a complex network" of cultural and sociological developments. While the book takes a mostly conservative standpoint—advocating government-mandated ways to foster "traditional" heterosexual marriages to the exclusion of other categories—Christiansen concluded that the arguments are well-prepared and stated "with a rational civility intended to advance not stifle debate."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

periodicals

America, September 15, 1984, Paul Roy, review of Religious Ethics and Pastoral Care, p. 133.

Booklist, January 1, 2002, Bryce Christensen, review of Reweaving the Social Tapestry: Toward a Public Philosophy and Policy for Families, p. 782.

Christian Century, June 14, 1967, Daniel Day Williams, review of Atonement and Psychotherapy; December, 5, 1973; December 19, 1973; May 18, 1977; November 9, 1977; May 6, 1981, Clyde Holbrook, review of Pluralism and Personality: William James and Some Contemporary Cultures of Psychology, p. 522; August 31, 1983, Lee Snook, review of Practical Theology: The EmergingField in Theology, Church, and World, p. 782; May 23, 1984, John Rosenberg, review of Religious Ethics and Pastoral Care, p. 555; March 20, 1991, John Patton, review of Religious and Ethical Factors in Psychiatric Practice, p. 341; October 14, 1992, Thomas Ogletree, review of A Fundamental Practical Theology: Descriptive and Strategic Proposals, p. 904; May 9, 2001, Garrett Paul, review of From Culture Wars to Common Ground: Religion and the American Family Debate, p. 18; December 12, 2001, Douglas Hicks, review of God and Globalization, p. 14.

Christianity Today, September 8, 1989, Gary Furr, review of Religious Thought and the Modern Psychologies: A Critical Conversation in the Theology of Culture, p. 33 Commonweal, September 11, 1987, Eugene Fontinell, review of Religious Thought and the Modern Psychologies, p. 505.

Encounter, summer, 1967, Clark M. Williamson, review of Atonement and Psychotherapy.

Ethics, April, 1988, Gordon Marino, review of Religious Thought and the Modern Psychologies, p. 641; July, 1992, Rem Edwards, review of Does Psychiatry Need a Public Philosophy?, pp. 894-895.

Interpretation, July, 1993, C. Ellis Nelson, review of A Fundamental Practical Theology, p. 307.

Journal of Ecumenical Studies, spring, 1990, Roger Timm, Religious Thought and the Modern Psychologies, p. 393.

Journal of Religion, October, 1992, review of Does Psychiatry Need a Public Philosophy? and Religious and Ethical Factors in Psychiatric Practice, pp. 639-640; July, 1992, Thomas Parker, review of A Fundamental Practical Theology, p. 430; July, 1994, Paul Lakeland, review of Habermas, Modernity, and Public Theology, p. 408; October, 1999, Stephen Post, review of From Culture Wars to Common Ground, p. 641.

Journal of the American Academy of Religion, winter, 1998, Christine Gundorf, review of From Culture Wars to Common Ground, p. 930.

Kirkus Reviews, July 15, 1976.

Library Journal, December, 1997, Leroy Hommerding, review of From Culture Wars to Common Ground, p. 111.

Modern Theology, January, 1994, Richard Lischer, review of A Fundamental Practical Theology, p. 119, John McCarthy, review of Habermas, Modernity, and Public Theology, p. 127.

Psychology Today, May, 1974.

Social Service Review, June, 1993, Mary Brabeck, review of Religious and Ethical Factors in Psychiatric Practice, p. 302.

Sociological Analysis, summer, 1989, A. Javier Trevino, review of Religious Thought and the Modern Psychologies, p. 204.

Theological Studies, December, 1992, Michael McGinniss, review of A Fundamental Practical Theology, p. 772; March, 1999, John Coleman, review of From Culture Wars to Common Ground, p. 181.

Theology Today, April, 1975; April, 1977; July, 2001, Arthur Holmes, review of From Culture Wars to Common Ground, p. 229.

Zygon, June, 1994, Kenneth Vaux and Glenn Brichacek, review of Religious and Ethical Factors in Psychiatric Practice, p. 233; December, 1994, Kyle Pasewark, review of A Fundamental Practical Theology, p. 661.*