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PhD Candidate | Practical Theology
Short Bio:
As of fall 2024, Henry is in his fifth and final year of the PhD program. His dissertation is titled, “The Weariness of the Perfectionist: A Pastoral Theological Approach to Healing.” In this work, Henry addresses perfectionism of clinical proportions as he seeks to equip ministers to attend to those who suffer from it. Henry’s primary research interests include pastorally addressing matters of shame, identity crises, achievement culture, athletics, and the care of men. He takes a strong psychoanalytic approach, incorporating theories of playing from D.W. Winnicott; religious experiences from William James; and embodied theopoetics in service to identity transformation from Gloria Anzaldua.
Henry graduated with an MDiv from Princeton Theological Seminary in 2019. He spent the year prior to returning to Princeton fulfilling the ordination process as an ELCA pastor. He graduated from St. Olaf College in 2016 with degrees in both psychology and exercise science.
Apart from his studies, Henry enjoys competitive running, choral singing, attending sporting events, traveling, and church ministry in surrounding Lutheran churches. In the last two years he has served as interim pastors for Portuguese- and Spanish-speaking Lutheran congregations in the greater New York City area. He has called Dallas, Chicago, southern Minnesota, Ottawa (CA), Santa Fe, and Philadelphia home.
Status PhD Candidate
Dissertation “The Weariness of the Perfectionist: A Pastoral Theological Approach to Healing”
Department Practical Theology
Area Pastoral Theology
Dissertation Commitee Robert Dykstra Jay-Paul Hinds Jaco Hamman
Select Publications Burt, H. Running and Righteousness: Fitness as a Variety of Religious Experience. Pastoral Psychol (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11089-022-01043-x
Co-editor for Mooney Suarez, Margarita. The Wounds of Beauty: Seven Dialogues on Art and Education. Providence, RI: Cluny Media, 2022.
Co-editor for Mooney Suarez, Margarita. The Love of Learning: Seven Dialogues on the Liberal Arts. Providence, RI: Cluny Media, 2021.
Co-editor for Wang, K.T., Xie, Z., Parsley, A.C. et al. Religious Perfectionism Scale Among Believers of Multiple Faiths in China: Development and Psychometric Analysis. J Relig Health 59, 318–333 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-019-00784-z
Burt, Henry. 2024. “Perfectionism and the Threat of Grace: Reimagining Theological Principles for Healing.” Journal of Pastoral Theology, November, 1–17. doi:10.1080/10649867.2024.2406667
