Duane Bidwell

Associate Professor of Practical Theology, Spiritual Care, and Counseling

Office
Craig 216
Phone
(909) 447-2528
Email
On Sabbatical: 2012-13 Academic Year

An ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church (USA), Duane Bidwell teaches, writes, and researches at the intersection of pastoral theology, spirituality, and mental health. A practitioner of vipassana (insight meditation) in the Theravada Buddhist tradition, he has a keen interest in hybrid religious/spiritual identities and in Buddhist-Christian dialogue.

Dr. Bidwell is a senior staff clinician and supervisor at The Clinebell Institute for Pastoral Counseling and Psychotherapy, where he maintains a counseling and spiritual direction practice, and serves as co-director of the Center for Sexuality, Gender and Religion. He has served on the national board of the American Association of Pastoral Counselors and as co-editor of The Journal of Pastoral Theology.

He teaches relational practices; short-term counseling; death, dying, and bereavement; the care and counseling of couples and families; and introduction to chaplaincy. On a rotating basis, he serves as training director at The Clinebell Institute for Pastoral Counseling and Psychotherapy, where he teaches solution-focused and narrative approaches to psychotherapy.

Dr. Bidwell is a clinical Fellow of the American Association of Pastoral Counselors and has served as chaplain, parish pastor, spiritual director, pastoral counselor, and director of a community AIDS agency.

Current Research

  • "Spiritual Fluidity: Making Sense of Multiple Religious Identity," a trans-disciplinary theory that identifies three processes by which people claim (or are claimed by), articulate, practice, and sustain multiple spiritual identities.
  • "Chaplaincy as Public Practical Theology," an essay that offers a descriptive-critical analysis of the public theological role of chaplains and makes recommendations for the preparation of theological students who will step into this role.
  • "Children's Accounts of Hope in Chronic Illness," a qualitative study of children with kidney disease in three hospitals, for which he and research partner Donald L. Batisky, M.D., of Emory University, received a collaborative research grant from the Lilly Endowment and the Association of Theological Schools.
  • "Beyond Open and Affirming," a qualitative study of queer-friendly congregations in Texas and Oklahoma with co-director Joretta L. Marshall of Brite Divinity School, part of a larger, multi-year project funded by the Carpenter Foundation.

Education

B.S. - Texas Christian University
M.Div. - Brite Divinity School
Ph.D. - Brite Divinity School

Recent Publications / Achievements

Empowering Couples: A Narrative Approach to Spiritual Care (Fortress, 2013)

The Formation of Pastoral Counselors: Opportunities and Challenges (Routledge, 2007). (Co-edited with Joretta L. Marshall)

Short-Term Spiritual Guidance (Augsburg Fortress, 2004)

"Enacting the Spiritual Self: Buddhist-Christian Identity as Participatory Action," presented to the Christian Spirituality Group of the American Academy of Religion in Chicago, November 2012.

“Identity and Wisdom as Elements of a Spirituality of Hope among Children with End-stage Renal Disease,” Journal of Childhood and Religion 2 (2011). (Co-authored with Donald L. Batisky, M.D.)

“Fluid Desire: Same-sex Attraction and Discernment in the Context of Spiritual Care,” Beyond Apologetics Symposium in Fort Worth, Oct. 7, 2010.

"Eschatology and Childhood Hope: Reflections from Work in Progress," The Journal of Pastoral Theology, 20:2 (2010): 109-127.

“Abundance in Finitude: An Exploratory Study of Children’s Accounts of Hope in Chronic Illness,” The Journal of Pastoral Theology 19:1 (2009): 38-59. (Co-authored with Donald L. Batisky, M.D.)

“The Embedded Psychology of Contemporary Spiritual Direction,” Journal of Spirituality in Mental Health 11:3 (2009): 1-24.

“Practicing the Religious Self: Buddhist-Christian Identity as Social Artifact,” Journal of Buddhist-Christian Studies 28 (2008): 3-12.