Jaco Hamman
Professor of Religion, Psychology, and Culture
Director of the Program in Theology and Practice
Jaco J. Hamman is Professor of Religion, Psychology, and Culture and the Director of the Program in Theology and Practice at Vanderbilt Divinity School (Nashville, TN). A South African, he completed his academic studies and clinical training at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (B.A.), Stellenbosch University (South Africa, B.Th.; M.Th.), Princeton Theological Seminary (Ph.D.), and at the Blanton-Peale Graduate Institute (New York City; Certificates in Psychodynamic Psychotherapy; Marriage and Family Therapy; Group Therapy). He has been in the USA since 1993.
Hamman’s research areas include psychodynamic theory, leadership formation, Biblical narrative reception, cultural and generational expressions of faith, and humanity’s deepening relationship with technology. He has published 10 books, including: The Essence of Leadership: Maintaining Emotional Independence in Situations Requiring Change (Routledge, 2024); Pastoral Virtues for Artificial Intelligence: Care and the Algorithms that Guide our Lives (Lexington Books 2022); Just Traveling: God, Leaving Home, and a Spirituality for the Road (Fortress press, 2021); The Millennial Narrative: Sharing the Good Life with the Next Generation (Abingdon Press, 2019); Growing Down: Theology and Human Nature in the Virtual Age (Baylor University Press, 2017); and, Becoming a Pastor: Forming Self and Soul for Ministry. Revised and Updated (The Pilgrim Press, 2014). Hamman has also published numerous peer-reviewed articles and book chapters.
His current project is: Shame: Weaving an American Tapestry, exploring shame across a variety of cultural spheres such as politics, sexuality, school shootings, and higher education.
Hamman is a co-founder of Our Place Nashville, a 501(c)(3) non-profit that places adults with developmental disabilities in affordable housing alongside graduate students and displaced elderly in Friendship Houses. The community is currently 110 persons strong.
Hamman is a teaching elder in the Presbyterian Church (USA). His hobbies include golf, long-distance motorcycle travel, and hosting a braai.