Anton Theophilus Boisen (29 October 1876 – 1 October 1965) was an American chaplain. He was a leading figure in the hospital chaplaincy and

clinical pastoral education Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) is education to teach spiritual care to clergy and others. CPE is the primary method of training hospital and hospice chaplains and spiritual care providers in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. C ...

movements.

History

Born in

Bloomington, Indiana Bloomington is a city in and the county seat of Monroe County, Indiana, Monroe County in the central region of the U.S. state of Indiana. It is the List of municipalities in Indiana, seventh-largest city in Indiana and the fourth-largest outside ...

, 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 Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universit ...

. When his father died in 1884, his family moved into Theophilus Wylie's home. Boisen graduated from

in 1897 and taught French and German, first in high school then later as a tutor at the university. During this period he had the first of several major psychotic episodes he would experience. Recovering from it, 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 having a second psychotic episode. He entered the

Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

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 () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

and

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

. For two years during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Boisen worked with the

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in Europe. In 1917, Boisen returned from Europe and experienced another breakdown, but recovered to accept an offer to join the

Interchurch World Movement The Interchurch World Movement was an attempt to unite some of the main enterprises of the Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking t ...

. As part of that work, he moved to

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the Native Americans in the United States, indigenous Dakota people, Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north a ...

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 experienced a

religious calling A calling, in the religious sense of the word, is a religious vocation (which comes from the Latin for "call") that may be professional or voluntary and, idiosyncratic to different religions, may come from another person, from a divine messenger, ...

to work to bring religion and medicine closer together. After his release, Boisen began studies in the psychology of religion at

Andover Theological Seminary Andover Theological Seminary (1807–1965) was a Congregationalist seminary founded in 1807 and originally located in Andover, Massachusetts on the campus of Phillips Academy. From 1908 to 1931, it was located at Harvard University in Cambridge. ...

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 began a program at the hospital for the clinical training of theological students. 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 Founded in 1855, the Chicago Theological Seminary (CTS) is the oldest higher education institution in the City of Chicago and was established with two principal goals: first, to educate pastors who would minister to people living on the new weste ...

. Boisen's 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, he believed, 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 with 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 1932 Boisen became chaplain at Elgin State Hospital near

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

to be closer to Chicago Theological Seminary and to Alice Batchelder, a love interest 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.

Views

Boisen believed that some mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia, could be interpreted as one's attempts to solve "problems of the soul". Later, 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, he believed, and could be cured by the power of religion.

Published works

In 1936 he published his ideas about religion and mental health in ''Exploration of the Inner World'', which he dedicated to Batchelder. The book was 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 additional articles and books, notably ''Religion in Crisis and Custom'' (1955) and ''Out of the Depths'' (1960), his autobiography.

References

*Dictionary of Pastoral Care and Counseling. Rodney J. Hunter, ed. Nashville, Abingdon Press, 1990. Article entitled "Anton Boisen," by E.B. Holifield. *Marseille M. Pride. "Boisen, Anton Theophilus" American National Biography Online Feb. 2000.

External links

Anton Boisen papers
from the Historic Psychiatry Collection, Menninger Archives,

Kansas Historical Society The Kansas Historical Society is the official state historical society of Kansas. Headquartered in Topeka, it operates as "the trustee of the state" for the purpose of maintaining the state's history and operates the Kansas Museum of History, Kan ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boisen, Anton 1876 births 1965 deaths American chaplains Christian chaplains American religion academics Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies alumni Indiana University Bloomington alumni Medical educators

History

Views

Published works

References

Further reading

External links