Frank Woggon, PhD

Chaplain. Clinical Theologian & Educator. Author.

“Love sees others as intrinsically valuable and with dignity and possibilities. A pessimistic assessment, on the other hand, which insists with certitude that the human condition is inherently corrupted cannot support an open, appreciative, and dialogical approach to understanding the human experience and possibilities for transformation. Appreciative dialogue that is rooted in love for the world and its inhabitants transcends dogmatic certitude about the human condition and is open to discover new possibilities of seeing and naming the world, including one’s theological world.”

 

The Empathic God: A Clinical Theology of At-onement, p. 15

Books

The Empathic God

The Empathic God offers a re-interpretation of the Christian doctrine of atonement from the perspective of clinical spiritual care and develops a theological theory for spiritual care based upon that interpretation.

News

The Empathic God nominated for the 2026 Grawemeyer Award in Religion

March 18, 2025

I recveived an official notice that The Empathic God had been nominated for the 2026 Grawemeyer Award in Religion and that the nomination had been accepted. This is a great honor, and I am excited and humbled that the book is being considered for the award. The Grawemeyer Award in Religion honors and publicizes annually creative and constructive insights into the relationship between human beings and the divine, and ways in which this relationship may inspire or empower human beings to attain wholeness, integrity or meaning, either individually or in community. The recipient of the award will be announced in December. Stay tuned!

Podcast

JourneyTalks

November 29, 2024

JourneyTalks is a podcast that is hosted by the Rev. Jorge Sayago-Gonzales and focuses on how to connect with gratitude and inspiration in one's life. The first episode of season 2 features a conversation I had with Jorge in 2024 about gratitude, self-awareness, fears and challenges, and the wisdom on the journey that is life.

Speaking

Keynote Address at Baptist Health Louisville Celebration of Fifty Years of Clinical Pastoral Education: The Chaplain as Clinical Theologian--Constructing Clinical Theology

October 16, 2025

Join me, as we celebrate 50 years of training clergy and chaplains at Baptist Health Louisville. I am an alumni of the Clinical Pastoral Education program at the Baptist hospital in Louisville, KY, worked as a chaplain at the hospital for eight years, and trained there to become an ACPE Certified Educator. Baptist Hospital East, as it was called then, has had an excellent team of chaplains through the years, and I am very grateful for all that I learned among these colleagues. I am honored to deliver the keynote address at the 50th anniversary celebration of CPE at Baptist hospital and to be part of a panel discussion. I will address the role of chaplains as clinical theologians, who do not only apply theological concepts and teachings in clinical practice but, more importantly, are in a position to construct and re-construct theology from an experience-near, clinical perspective. For information about time and location, call (502) 897-8804.