Stephen Muse

Fr. Stephen Muse, PhD, LPC, LMFT is a bi-vocational priest with an active independent practice in Pastoral Psychotherapy, Life Coaching, and Clinical Supervision. He directed the Pastoral Counselor Training program at the Pastoral Institute, Inc. in Columbus, GA for 21 years and trained and supervised U.S. Army and Air Force Family Life Chaplains in pastoral psychological integration. He served as Managing Editor of The Pastoral Forum from 1993 to 2002 and from 1999-2024 directed the nationally recognized Clergy-in-Kairos program, a personalized week-long out-patient intensive for clergy (and spouse) renewal. He has worked extensively with combat veterans and healing professionals struggling with professional stress, grief and spiritual pain. From 2021-2025 he held joint appointments as clinical Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science and Bioethics and Medical Humanities at Mercer University School of Medicine and served during 2023-2024 with the St. Francis Hospital Psychiatry Residency Program on their Site Accreditation team and Clinical Competency Committee. He has been PT or adjunct faculty in the graduate departments of Antiochian House of Studies, Columbus State University, McAfee School of Theology; Columbia Theological Seminary; Garret Evangelical Seminary; and The Union Institute, teaching classes, supervising dissertations and serving as a mentor and ministry coach.

Fr. Stephen is a graduate of Davidson College with a degree in Philosophy and earned his M.Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary where he first encountered Orthodoxy and studied patristics briefly with Fr. Georges Florovsky and selected writings of the Philokalia. He received M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Loyola University of Maryland in Pastoral Counseling Psychology and did post graduate studies in Marriage and Family Therapy at University of Georgia. He has led workshops and retreats throughout the U.S. and internationally, offering lectures at St. Tikhons, St. Vladimir’s, Kottayam Seminary in Kerala, INDIA, Holy Cross School of Theology, and the Army Pentagon. St. Tikhon’s Monastery Press described him as “one of the most unique minds in the Orthodox Church today.”

He has held certifications in both Professional and Pastoral Psychotherapy, Traumatic Stress [including Complex Post-Traumatic Stress, Level II], Personality Disorder Treatment, Clinical Hypnotherapy, Equine Assisted Therapy, EMDR, and as a Clinical Chaplain, CPE Supervisor, Compassion Fatigue Professional, Clergy & Life coach and TeleMental health provider. He is currently an AAMFT Approved and Certified Professional Counseling Supervisor, licensed in Georgia as an LMFT and as an LPC in Georgia and Alabama.

Fr. Stephen is author/editor of a number of books for both adults and children, scholarly and fiction. He has published 60+ articles and book reviews for various peer-reviewed professional and trade magazines and received the national COMISS award for his research in religious integration of therapists and their capacity for clinical empathy. His books and papers have been translated into Russian, Greek, Swedish, Serbian and Romanian and Arabic

Some of his talks and interviews are available on-line

GROWING MARRIED IN THE FACE OF ADVERSITY – Keynote Address

ANCIENT FAITH RADIO - OCAMPR Psychological Plenary 2023

TRAUMA & TRANSFIGURATION Re-membering ourselves in Christ

ANTIFONO online Journal - Interview on Pastoral Psychology and Orthodoxy

PARENTING IN REPENTANCE

FELLOWSHIP OF MOSES THE BLACK CONFERENCE

INTERVIEW ON MORE CHRIST Dia-Logos and the dangers of ideology

OCN RADIO The Most Important Question

SCIENCE AND WORLD ORTHODOXY CONFERENCE ON ORTHODOXY AND PSYCHOANALYSIS - Athens Greece,

WOMEN IN HEALING MINISTRIES LECTURES - Dormition Monastery, Rives Junction, MI