Dr. Thomas Shane lives in Houston, Texas with his wife Linda. They have four children. He is a graduate of both Yale and Vanderbilt Divinity Schools. His professional life work of three decades was as a board certified hospital chaplain (APC) and as a certified clinical pastoral educator with the ACPE. His chaplaincy was divided between a psychiatric hospital and a large medical/ trauma center, both in Kansas.

During his hospital chaplaincy years, Dr. Shane worked as a commissioned law enforcement officer, serving as a chaplain to several agencies. His work in law enforcement took him into the usually hidden world of violence, suffering, sin, and disaster where he learned the art of bringing pastoral comfort where it was most needed but least expected.

Dr. Shane’s unique gift is to find ways to enter into the dreadful crisis moments where hope seems lost and there seems no way to find help or healing. His stories of crisis pastoral care remind us of the importance of doing theology from the heart as well as the head, from the clinical moment where life is unraveling as surely as from the safety of the Academy. This work is front line pastoral care and is not for the faint hearted.