Fr. Stephen Muse, PhD, LMFT, LPC is a bi-vocational Orthodox priest with an active independent practice in Pastoral Psychotherapy, Life Coaching, and Clinical supervision and serving a local Mission Church. He has presented numerous talks, workshops and retreats throughout the U.S. and internationally.
He graduated from Davidson College with a degree in Philosophy, completed an M.Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Loyola University of Maryland in Pastoral Counseling Psychology. He did post graduate studies in Marriage and Family therapy at University of Georgia.
Dr. Muse directed the Pastoral Counselor training program at the Pastoral Institute, Inc. in Columbus, GA and trained and supervised U.S. Army and Air Force Family Life Chaplains in pastoral psychological integration for 21 years and served as Managing Editor of The Pastoral Forum from 1993 to 2002. From 1999-2024 he directed Clergy-in-Kairos, a personalized week-long intensive for clergy (and spouse) renewal at the Pastoral Institute and has worked extensively with combat veterans, persons experiencing spiritual pain and trauma and with healing professionals suffering professional stress and burnout.
In 2021 he received joint appointment as clinical Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science and Bioethics and Medical Humanities at Mercer University School of Medicine and served from 2023-2024 with the St. Francis Hospital Psychiatry Residency Program on the Site Accreditation team and the Clinical Competency Committee.
He has served as 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. He served a congregation in Pennsylvania as a Presbyterian minister for 11 years and helped begin an out-patient psychiatric clinic in Delta, Pennsylvania.
Fr. Stephen has authored or edited a number of books for both adults and children, scholarly and fiction, numerous articles and book reviews for various peer-reviewed professional and trade magazines including national award-winning research in religious integration of therapists and their capacity for clinical empathy. His work has been translated into Russian, Greek, Swedish, Serbian and Romanian.