Encyclopedia of Religion
and Society

William H. Swatos, Jr. Editor

Table of Contents | Cover Page  |  Editors  |  Contributors  |  Introduction  |  Web Version

CAPPS, DONALD ERIC
(1939-) William Harte Felmeth Professor of Pastoral Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary; honorary doctorate from the University of Uppsala, Sweden, 1989. Editor, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion , 1983-1988; President of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, 1990-1992. Received the William Bier award for the scholarly study of religion from Division 36 of the American Psychological Association, 1994.

Donald Capps is widely recognized for his innovative application of dynamic psychology to personalities and issues in the psychology of religion. He has both edited and written works involving analysis and commentary on such notable religious personalities as St. Augustine and John Henry Newman. He has been particularly influential in advocating the relevance of poetry and biography for both pastoral care and the psychology of religion. He also has championed idiographic methods, employing a variety of theoretical viewpoints, in a field dominated by nomothetic approaches. In addition, he has argued for the relevance of certain religious beliefs to the phenomenon of child and sexual abuse, suggesting that certain religious beliefs may in fact foster such abuse practices.

Ralph W. Hood, Jr .

References

D. E. Capps, "Religion and Child Abuse," Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 31(1992):1-14

D. E. Capps, The Poet's Gift (Louisville: Westminster/Knox, 1993)

D. E. Capps, "Sex in the Parish," Journal of Pastoral Care 47(1993):350-361

D. E. Capps, "An Allportian Analysis of Augustine," International Journal for the Psychology of Religion 4(1994):205-228

D. E. Capps and J. E. Dittes (eds.), The Hunger of the Heart (Washington, D.C.: Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, 1990)

D. E. Capps and R. K. Fenn (eds.), The Endangered Self (Princeton, N.J.: Center for Religion, Self, and Society, 1992).

return to Encyclopedia Table of Contents

Hartford Institute for Religion Research   hirr@hartsem.edu
Hartford Seminary, 77 Sherman Street, Hartford, CT 06105  860-509-9500