Generative man: Psychoanalytic perspectives

by Don S. Browning

1975

266 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1973

About the author

Don S. Browning was the Alexander Campbell Professor Emeritus of Ethics and the Social Sciences at the Divinity School of the University of Chicago. Trained in theology, he was equally conversant in modern psychology, philosophy, ethics, sociology, and in the last decade of his life, family law. Browning brought Ivory Tower theological theory to earth by bridging the study of religion with fields including psychology and law, and issues such as marriage and family.

One of the architects of Practical Theology, which looks into ways to link theology to law, psychology and pastoral care. The ideas were laid out in one of his most widely known books, "A Fundamental Practical Theology," published in 1991.

In his early work, he sought to bridge theology and psychology in the service of pastoral care around such diverse themes as the atonement, generativity, poverty, personality theory, and the quest for a normative anthropology. Browning is constant in his challenge that religious leaders need to be capable of moral deliberation in the midst of the complex emotional and social dynamics of daily living. His critical observation about pastoral counseling in a parish or congregational setting remains relevant.