Rev. Duane Bidwell, Ph.D.

Department of Health Professions Education
Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences
Bethesda, Maryland, USA

Phone: (909) 282-8929
Email: duane.bidwell.ctr@usuhs.edu, duane.bidwell@gmail.com
Web: https://chpe.usuhs.edu/profile/duane-bidwell-phd, https://duanebidwell.owlstown.net
Social: https://www.facebook.com/duane.r.bidwell

A former member of the Taos Institute board of directors, Duane is an award-winning teacher, mentor, trainer, writer, and facilitator.

Since 2022 he has served on the faculty of the Department of Health Professions Education at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and as an Educational and Research Associate for the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine Inc., where he directs a collaborative project with the US Veterans Health Administration to improve educational leadership at medical centers across the country.

Duane has published more than 40 peer-reviewed articles and chapters, and his work has been featured by National Public Radio, CNN, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Interfaith Radio, the Utne Reader, and many podcasts.
From 2010-2022 he was professor of practical theology, spiritual care, and counseling at Claremont School of Theology in Southern California, where he also maintained a clinical practice at The Clinebell Institute for Pastoral Counseling and Psychotherapy.

Ordained by the Presbyterian Church (USA), Duane uses qualitative and social constructionist methods to understand and to respond faithfully and effectively to human experiences of joy, suffering, wonder and mystery.

Duane’s books include:

  • After the Worst Day Ever: What Sick Kids Know About Sustaining Hope in Chronic Illness (Boston: Beacon Press, 2024)
  • When One Religion Isn’t Enough: The lives of Spiritually Fluid People (Boston: Beacon Press, 2029)
  • The edited volume Spirituality, Social Construction, and Relational Process: Essays and Reflections (Chagrin Falls, OH: WorldShare, 2016).
  • Empowering Couples: A Narrative Approach to Spiritual Care (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2013), which places contemporary research on resilient partnerships into conversation with the Christian desert traditions and the practices of narrative psychotherapy.
  • The Formation of Pastoral Counselors: Challenges and Opportunities (New York: Routledge, 2006), co-edited with Joretta Marshall.
  • Short-term Spiritual Guidance (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2004), which explores the Christian practice of spiritual direction in light of social constructionist psychotherapies.

Duane’s teaching, research and writing are informed by the practice of vipassana (insight) meditation in the tradition of Theravada Buddhism. He has a keen interest in hybrid religious/spiritual identities and Buddhist-Christian dialogue.

A clinical Fellow of the American Association of Pastoral Counselors and former editor of The Journal of Pastoral Theology, he has worked as a chaplain, parish pastor, spiritual director, pastoral counselor, accreditation specialist, and director of an interfaith HIV/AIDS agency.

Rev. Duane Bidwell, Ph.D. resources