Anton Boisen
Encyclopedia
Anton Theophilus Boisen (29 October 1876 – 1 October 1965) was widely regarded as a pioneering figure in the hospital chaplaincy and clinical pastoral education
movements. Born in Bloomington, Indiana
, Boisen was the son of Hermann Balthsar Boisen and Elisabeth Louisa (Louise) Wylie. Both his father and his maternal grandfather, Theophilus Adam Wylie
from whom his middle name stemmed, were professors at Indiana University
. When his father died in 1884, his family moved into Theophilus Wylie’s home
.
Boisen graduated from Indiana University
in 1897, and taught French and German, first in high school then later as a tutor at the University. During this period he suffered his first of five major psychotic episodes in his life. Recovering from that, Boisen went on to study forestry and graduate from the Yale University School of Forestry in 1905. He went on to work for the U.S. Forest Service for several years before suffering a second psychotic episode.
He entered the Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York
, and graduated in 1911. Boisen moved from the Presbyterian to the Congregational Church, and worked for the next ten years in rural church survey work, in pastorates in both Kansas
and Maine
. For two years during World War I
, Boisen worked with the YMCA
in Europe. In 1917, Boisen returned from Europe and experienced another breakdown, but recovered to accept an offer to join the Interchurch World Movement. As a part of this work he moved to North Dakota
to conduct a rural survey. When the Interchurch World Movement collapsed in 1920, Boisen again fell victim to psychosis, and his family had him hospitalized at Westboro State Hospital, where it took him fifteen months to recover. While at Westboro, Boisen felt a calling to "break down the dividing wall between religion and medicine." He believed that certain types of schizophrenia could be understood as attempts to solve problems of the soul.
After his release, Boisen began studies in the psychology of religion at Andover Theological Seminary where he remained from 1922 to 1924 working especially with the physician and ethicist Richard Cabot. In 1924 William Bryan of the Worcester State Hospital invited Boisen to become a hospital chaplain, and the following year he inaugurated at the hospital a program in the clinical training of theological students. One of the students, Helen Flanders Dunbar
, a pioneer in the field of psychosomatic medicine, came as a research assistant. Dr. Flanders Dunbar later became the Medical Director of the Council for Clinical Pastoral Training of Theological Students in New York City.
Also during this period, Boisen began a five-year stint lecturing each fall quarter to students in the social ethics department of Chicago Theological Seminary
. Boisen ideas about mental illness began to mature during this period. He explored the concept that mental illness represents a crisis brought about by the failure to grow into higher social loyalties, including loyalty to God. In this way mental illness was purposive, and could be cured by the power of religion. In 1930 he joined with others in forming the Council for the Clinical Training of Theological Students, which would expose students for extended periods to people suffering illness and crisis, mainly in mental hospitals. In the same year, however, the death of his mother helped to precipitate still another brief period of mental illness. This breakdown caused Cabot to withdraw his support for Boisen as chaplain at Worcester State Hospital and Boisen influence in the Council to wane.
In 1931, Boisen was followed by Rev. Carroll Wise at Worcester State Hospital . Wise had a different philosophy of what clinical training was all about. Boisen was primarily a researcher of religious experience connected to mental illness. Carroll was interested in a pastoral emphasis. Carroll remarked, “He (Boisen) finally forgave me for changing the Worcester program from a research to a pastoral emphasis.”
In 1932 Boisen became chaplain at Elgin State Hospital
near Chicago
. This move brought him close to Chicago Theological Seminary where he was teaching one semester a year; and to Alice Batchelder, the unrequited love of his life, who worked in Chicago. While there Boisen organized a Chicago Council for the Clinical Training of Theological Students, functioning effectively until he learned in 1935 Alice Batchelder was dying of cancer. The discovery resulted in his brief hospitalization in Baltimore, Maryland, but in December 1935 he returned to his chaplaincy post at Elgin where he remained as chaplain until 1954, then chaplain emeritus at Elgin until his death.
In 1936 he published his ideas about religion and mental health in his influential Exploration of the Inner World, which he dedicated to Batchelder. The book was highly praised by the New York Times Review of Books as being a “significant contribution to the religious literature field.” Boisen continued to expound his religious views in more than 150 articles and several other books, notably Religion in Crisis and Custom (1955) and Out of the Depths (1960), his autobiography where he offers candid reflections on his struggles with mental illness and valuable insights he gleaned from these experiences, along with his pioneering work in chaplaincy.
For Boisen, a student of George Albert Coe, crisis periods in life also bring creative possibilities. He associated crisis with religious “quickening.” He writes, “In times of crisis, when the person's fate is hanging in the balance, we are likely to think and feel intensely regarding the things that matter most.” Amidst such circumstances new ideas flash into the mind so vividly that they seem to come from an outside source. They are moments bringing forth change either for better or for worse. Boisen's work, leadership and vision helped lay the foundation for hospital chaplaincy, and continues to be influential today.
Clinical pastoral education
Clinical pastoral education is education to teach pastoral care to clergy and others. CPE is the primary way of training hospital and hospice chaplains in the United States...
movements. Born in Bloomington, Indiana
Bloomington, Indiana
Bloomington is a city in and the county seat of Monroe County in the southern region of the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 80,405 at the 2010 census....
, Boisen was the son of Hermann Balthsar Boisen and Elisabeth Louisa (Louise) Wylie. Both his father and his maternal grandfather, Theophilus Adam Wylie
Theophilus Adam Wylie
Theophilus Adam Wylie was a Presbyterian minister, college professor, and president pro tem of Indiana University.-Early life:Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on October 8, 1810, Wylie was the son of Margaret Watson Wylie and Samuel Brown Wylie, Reformed Presbyterian minister and professor of...
from whom his middle name stemmed, were professors at Indiana University
Indiana University
Indiana University is a multi-campus public university system in the state of Indiana, United States. Indiana University has a combined student body of more than 100,000 students, including approximately 42,000 students enrolled at the Indiana University Bloomington campus and approximately 37,000...
. When his father died in 1884, his family moved into Theophilus Wylie’s home
Wylie House
Wylie House is an historic structure built in 1835 and located in Bloomington, Indiana. It was home of Andrew Wylie, first president of Indiana University, until his death in 1851...
.
Boisen graduated from Indiana University
Indiana University
Indiana University is a multi-campus public university system in the state of Indiana, United States. Indiana University has a combined student body of more than 100,000 students, including approximately 42,000 students enrolled at the Indiana University Bloomington campus and approximately 37,000...
in 1897, and taught French and German, first in high school then later as a tutor at the University. During this period he suffered his first of five major psychotic episodes in his life. Recovering from that, Boisen went on to study forestry and graduate from the Yale University School of Forestry in 1905. He went on to work for the U.S. Forest Service for several years before suffering a second psychotic episode.
He entered the Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York
Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York
Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York is a preeminent independent graduate school of theology, located in Manhattan between Claremont Avenue and Broadway, 120th to 122nd Streets. The seminary was founded in 1836 under the Presbyterian Church, and is affiliated with nearby Columbia...
, and graduated in 1911. Boisen moved from the Presbyterian to the Congregational Church, and worked for the next ten years in rural church survey work, in pastorates in both Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
and Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
. For two years during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, Boisen worked with the YMCA
YMCA
The Young Men's Christian Association is a worldwide organization of more than 45 million members from 125 national federations affiliated through the World Alliance of YMCAs...
in Europe. In 1917, Boisen returned from Europe and experienced another breakdown, but recovered to accept an offer to join the Interchurch World Movement. As a part of this work he moved to North Dakota
North Dakota
North Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, along the Canadian border. The state is bordered by Canada to the north, Minnesota to the east, South Dakota to the south and Montana to the west. North Dakota is the 19th-largest state by area in the U.S....
to conduct a rural survey. When the Interchurch World Movement collapsed in 1920, Boisen again fell victim to psychosis, and his family had him hospitalized at Westboro State Hospital, where it took him fifteen months to recover. While at Westboro, Boisen felt a calling to "break down the dividing wall between religion and medicine." He believed that certain types of schizophrenia could be understood as attempts to solve problems of the soul.
After his release, Boisen began studies in the psychology of religion at Andover Theological Seminary where he remained from 1922 to 1924 working especially with the physician and ethicist Richard Cabot. In 1924 William Bryan of the Worcester State Hospital invited Boisen to become a hospital chaplain, and the following year he inaugurated at the hospital a program in the clinical training of theological students. One of the students, Helen Flanders Dunbar
Helen Flanders Dunbar
Helen Flanders Dunbar — later known as H. Flanders Dunbar — is an important early figure in U.S. psychosomatic medicine and psychobiology, as well as being an important advocate of physicians and clergy co-operating in their efforts to care for the sick.-Life:Eldest child of a well-to-do family —...
, a pioneer in the field of psychosomatic medicine, came as a research assistant. Dr. Flanders Dunbar later became the Medical Director of the Council for Clinical Pastoral Training of Theological Students in New York City.
Also during this period, Boisen began a five-year stint lecturing each fall quarter to students in the social ethics department of Chicago Theological Seminary
Chicago Theological Seminary
The Chicago Theological Seminary is a seminary of the United Church of Christ. It prepares women and men for leadership in the church and society through Master of Divinity , Master of Arts in Religious Studies , Master of Sacred Theology , Doctor of Ministry , and Doctor of Philosophy programs...
. Boisen ideas about mental illness began to mature during this period. He explored the concept that mental illness represents a crisis brought about by the failure to grow into higher social loyalties, including loyalty to God. In this way mental illness was purposive, and could be cured by the power of religion. In 1930 he joined with others in forming the Council for the Clinical Training of Theological Students, which would expose students for extended periods to people suffering illness and crisis, mainly in mental hospitals. In the same year, however, the death of his mother helped to precipitate still another brief period of mental illness. This breakdown caused Cabot to withdraw his support for Boisen as chaplain at Worcester State Hospital and Boisen influence in the Council to wane.
In 1931, Boisen was followed by Rev. Carroll Wise at Worcester State Hospital . Wise had a different philosophy of what clinical training was all about. Boisen was primarily a researcher of religious experience connected to mental illness. Carroll was interested in a pastoral emphasis. Carroll remarked, “He (Boisen) finally forgave me for changing the Worcester program from a research to a pastoral emphasis.”
In 1932 Boisen became chaplain at Elgin State Hospital
Elgin State Hospital
The Elgin Mental Health Center is a mental health facility operated by the State of Illinois in Elgin, Illinois. Although during its history, its mission has changed, at times it treated mental illness, tuberculosis, and provided federally-funded care for veterans...
near Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. This move brought him close to Chicago Theological Seminary where he was teaching one semester a year; and to Alice Batchelder, the unrequited love of his life, who worked in Chicago. While there Boisen organized a Chicago Council for the Clinical Training of Theological Students, functioning effectively until he learned in 1935 Alice Batchelder was dying of cancer. The discovery resulted in his brief hospitalization in Baltimore, Maryland, but in December 1935 he returned to his chaplaincy post at Elgin where he remained as chaplain until 1954, then chaplain emeritus at Elgin until his death.
In 1936 he published his ideas about religion and mental health in his influential Exploration of the Inner World, which he dedicated to Batchelder. The book was highly praised by the New York Times Review of Books as being a “significant contribution to the religious literature field.” Boisen continued to expound his religious views in more than 150 articles and several other books, notably Religion in Crisis and Custom (1955) and Out of the Depths (1960), his autobiography where he offers candid reflections on his struggles with mental illness and valuable insights he gleaned from these experiences, along with his pioneering work in chaplaincy.
For Boisen, a student of George Albert Coe, crisis periods in life also bring creative possibilities. He associated crisis with religious “quickening.” He writes, “In times of crisis, when the person's fate is hanging in the balance, we are likely to think and feel intensely regarding the things that matter most.” Amidst such circumstances new ideas flash into the mind so vividly that they seem to come from an outside source. They are moments bringing forth change either for better or for worse. Boisen's work, leadership and vision helped lay the foundation for hospital chaplaincy, and continues to be influential today.
Further reading
- Asquith, Glenn H. Vision from a Little Known Country. Journal of Pastoral Care Publications, 1992.
- Lawrence, Raymond J, Jr. "Anton Boisen's Contribution to the Sexual Revolution." Chapter 15, pp. 96-104, in Lawrence's Sexual Liberation: The Scandal of Christendom. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 2007.
- Miller, Perry N, Lawrence, Raymond J, and Powell, Robert C. "Discrete Varieties of Care in the Clinical Pastoral Tradition", Journal of Pastoral Care & Counseling 57(2): 111-6, 2003. “Anton Theophilus Boisen, who founded the clinical pastoral training movement over 75 years ago, was insistent from the very beginning that effective help for others cannot be achieved by assuming that ‘one size fits all.’ Boisen spoke repeatedly of the need for a ‘systematic attempt to diagnose’ where the suffering person stands, so that ‘we may be able to bring to bear, according to the needs of the particular case, the forces of healing and power’ which lie within religion. One must assess the situation in order to apply the most appropriate assistance.” on the internet at http://www.pastoralreport.com/the_archives/2005/07/discrete_variet_1.html, abstract in www.pubmed.gov
- Powell, Robert Charles. Anton T. Boisen (1876-1965): "Breaking an Opening in the Wall between Religion and Medicine", pp.47, Keynote address, presented before the Association of Mental Health Clergy, Miami Beach, May 1976. special supplement to the AMHC Forum, 29(1), October 1976.
- Powell, Robert Charles. "Anton T. Boisen's 'Psychiatric Examination: Content of Thought' (c. 1925-31): An Attempt to Grasp the Meaning of Mental Disorder." Psychiatry 40 (4): 369-75. 1977.
- Powell, Robert Charles. "Empirical Theology, 1916-1946: A Note on the Contribution of Anton T. Boisen." invited address, presented before the Autumn Convocation, Chicago Theological Seminary, September 1976. Chicago Theological Seminary Register 67: 1-11, 1977.
- Powell, Robert Charles. "Boisen, Anton Theophilus," Dictionary of American Biography, Supplement 7:1961-65. New York: American Council of Learned Societies, 1981. reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Thomson Gale, 2006. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC
- Powell, Robert Charles. "'The Challenge to Our Seminaries' – Worldwide." Guest Editorial. Journal of Pastoral Care and Counseling 59(4): 318-21, 2005. includes digest of Boisen, Anton T. "The Challenge to Our Seminaries." Christian Work 120: 110-112, 1926, reprinted, Journal of Pastoral Care 5:8-12, 1951.