Helping the Good Shepherd Medicine, Science, and Religion in Historical Context Ronald L. Numbers, Consulting Editor Helping the Good Shepherd Pastoral Counselors in a Psychotherapeutic Culture 1925–1975 SUSAN E. MYERS-SHIRK The Johns Hopkins University Press Baltimore ©2009 The Johns Hopkins University Press All rights reserved. Published 2009 Printed in the United States of America on acid-f ree paper 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 The Johns Hopkins University Press 2715 North Charles Street Baltimore, Mary land 21218-4363 www .press .jhu .edu Much of chapter 8 appeared in “To Be Fully Human: U.S. Protestant Psychotherapeutic Culture and the Subversion of the Domestic Ideal, 1945–1965,” Journal of Women’s History12, no. 1 (2000):112–136, © Indiana University Press, and is reprinted, in slightly altered form, by permission of The Johns Hopkins University Press. Library of Congress C ata loging-i n-P ublication Data Myers- Shirk, Susan E., 1958– Helping the Good Shepherd : pastoral counselors in a psychotherapeutic culture, 1925–1975 / Susan E. Myers- Shirk. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13:978-0-8018-9047-5 (hardcover : alk. paper) ISBN-10:0-8018-9047-0 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Pastoral c ounseling—United S tates—History—20th century. 2. Liberalism—Religious aspects—Protestant churches—History— 20th century. 3. United States—Church history—20th century. i. Title. BV4012.2.M94 2009 253.50973'0904—dc22 2008021240 A cata log record for this book is available from the British Library. Special discounts are available for bulk purchases of this book. For more information, please contact Special Sales at 410-516-6936 or [email protected]. The Johns Hopkins University Press uses environmentally friendly book materials, including recycled text paper that is composed of at least 30 percent post- consumer waste, whenever possible. All of our book papers are acid-f ree, and our jackets and covers are printed on paper with recycled content. For Stephanie Jo Myers, 1968–1990 This page intentionally left blank contents Ac knowl edg ments ix Introduction 1 1 Anton Boisen and the Scientifi c Study of Religion 16 2 The Methodology of Clinical Pastoral Education 40 3 The Minds of Moralists 62 4 From Adjustment to Autonomy 86 5 Democracy and the Psychologically Autonomous Individual 102 6 An Ethic of Relationships 122 7 Gendered Moral Discourse 142 8 The Language of Rights and the Challenge to the Domestic Ideal 162 9 Resurrection of the Shepherd 180 10 Christian Counseling and the Conservative Moral Sensibility 206 Epilogue 234 Notes 241 Index 293 This page intentionally left blank ac know ledgments As the setting for one of her Peter Wimsey mysteries, Gaudy Night, Dor- othy Sayers chose an imaginary women’s college at Oxford University. Sayers was familiar with the scholarly life and created a character named Miss Lydgate who had spent a good bit of her academic life writing a history of prosody—repeatedly revising and editing her prose and checking—and rechecking—her facts. Her colleagues fi nally wrested the manuscript from her and carried it off to the publisher, despite Miss Lydgate’s protest “about a footnote on page 97.” I am somewhat in Miss Lydgate’s situation; only through the intervention of friends, family, and colleagues has this work made its way to the light of publication. As a result, I have a rather long list of people to thank and acknowledge. In its original incarnation, this book was a dissertation, and so I want to acknowledge the help and direction given me early in my career by my dissertation director, Sally McMurry, my committee chair, Isabel F. Knight, and committee members Anne Rose and Judith Van Herik, all at Penn State University. My fellow graduate students and dear friends Su-Ya Chang and Bill Blair, and Bill’s wife, Mary Anne, played a criti- cal role in those early years. Once I arrived at Middle Tennessee State University, the Women’s Work Group in the History Department took up where my graduate school mentors and friends had left off. I owe a deep debt of gratitude to Yuan- ling Chao, Martha Harroun Foster, Gina Hames, Mary Hoffschwelle, Jan Leone, Rebecca Cawood McIntyre, and Amy Sayward, who have challenged me intellectually and encouraged and prodded me at various points along the way. I have also been extremely fortunate in the funding I have received for this project. First, while the manuscript was still a dissertation, I received a fellowship from the University of Chicago Divinity School Congrega- tional History Project. Two grants, an MTSU Faculty Research and Cre- ativity Activity Grant and assistance from the Louisville Institute for the ix