Assistant Professor of Spiritual Formation and Pastoral Care

Th.D. (Pastoral Counseling): Columbia Theological Seminary
Th.M.: Melbourne College of Divinity, Melbourne, Australia
Bachelor of Divinity: Ruschlikon Theological Seminary , Zurich, Switzerland
Diploma in Classical Studies: Liceo Classico Cagnazzi di Altamura, Altamura, Italy

What excites me most about teaching pastoral theology is the goal that students will become empowered to construct and practice theology based on their pastoral experience. Theological discourse is transformed by their ministry, which is in turn transformed by theological reflection. This circular, creative dialogue between theory and pastoral praxis carries with it the potential for wonderful transforming power.

Dr. Francesca Nuzzolese's professional experience includes having served as a resident in pastoral counseling at the Care and Counseling Center in Decatur, Georgia; and as pastoral counselor at the Interfaith Outreach Counseling Home in Atlanta. An ordained pastor, she has experience in chaplaincy ministry, and she served from 1990-93 as interim pastor at Chiesa Evangelica Italiana in Zurich, Switzerland.

Francesca has also served as a resident pastoral counselor at the Village Well Counseling Center in Melbourne, Australia and, under the auspices of the British Missionary Society, as a missionary resident in Tirana, Albania.

Dr. Nuzzolese is the recipient of a 2006 Wabash Grant for research in practical theology. In 2005 she was part of a panel presentation for the Pastoral Psychology Study Group of the American Academy of Religion.

Francesca's writings have appeared or will soon appear in Pastoral Psychology, Baptist Witness, and Teaching Theology and Religion. She is a member of the American Academy of Religion and the Society of Pastoral Theology, which she has served as co-chair of its Theological Anthropology Study Group.