Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore's primary research focuses on practical theological exploration of lived religion and the person in the midst of common human struggles, such as illness, dying, working, and parenting. Her teaching includes courses on psychological theory; self-psychology; women, psychology, and religion; families and children; pastoral counseling; spirituality and pastoral care; pastoral and practical theology; and methods in religion and science. Research interests include issues in the lives of women, families, and children; religious formation; the nature of practical theological knowledge and theological pedagogy; and explorations in practical and pastoral theology. Recent books are: In the Midst of Chaos: Care of Children as Spiritual Practice (Jossey-Bass, 2006) and Let the Children Come: Reimagining Childhood from a Christian Perspective (Jossey-Bass, 2003).

Other publications include Death, Sin and the Moral Life: Contemporary Cultural Interpretations of Death (Scholars, 1988); Also A Mother: Work and Family as Theological Dilemma (Abingdon, 1994); From Culture Wars to Common Ground: Religion and the American Family Debate (Westminster John Knox, 1997, 2000); Feminist and Womanist Pastoral Theology (Abingdon, 1999); Mutuality Matters: Faith, Family, and Just Love (Sheed & Ward, 2003); and Children in American Religions (Rutgers, forthcoming 2008).

One of seven recipients nationwide of a Henry Luce III Fellow in Theology in 1999-2000, she has also received grants from the Lilly Endowment Foundation, the Association of Theological Schools, and the Wabash Center on Teaching and Learning in Religion and Theology for the study of families, children, and religion; research on practical theology; research on public theology; and exploration of teaching and vocation.

Ordained in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), she served as an associate pastor, chaplain, and pastoral counselor while completing her M.A. and Ph.D. at University of Chicago in 1986. More recently, she has served as president of the Association of Practical Theology, co-chair of two new units of the American Academy of Religion (the Consultation on Childhood Studies and Religion and the Group on Practical Theology), and secretary of the Executive Committee of the International Academy of Practical Theology.

Recent Articles:

“The 'Clerical Paradigm': A Fallacy of Misplaced Concreteness?” International Journal of Practical Theology 11, 2 (2007): 19-38. (.pdf)

“Generativity, Self-Sacrifice, and the Ethics of Family Life,” in John Witte, Jr., M. Christian Green, and Amy Wheeler, eds., The Equal Regard Family and its Friendly Critics: Don Browning and the Practical Theological Ethics of the Family (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2007).