Steven J. Sandage

About

Steven J. Sandage is the Albert and Jessie Danielsen Professor of Psychology of Religion & Theology at Boston University School of Theology. His academic background includes a PhD and MS from Virginia Commonwealth University and an MDiv from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Growing up in Iowa as the son of two teachers and being confirmed in the United Methodist Church, he developed an early interest in the connections between mental health, spirituality, and ministry, which he pursued through his studies and practical work. His professional experience includes working as a chaplain in prisons, geriatric facilities, and group homes for boys, shaping his focus on integrating psychology and theology to understand human development and healing. After completing his doctoral studies with a focus on counseling psychology and marriage and family therapy, he worked at Bethel Seminary in Minnesota, where he joined the faculty and established a clinical practice. In 2013, he accepted the Danielsen Chair at Boston University School of Theology and the Danielsen Institute, where he also serves as Research Director and Senior Staff Psychologist, with a joint appointment in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences. His research encompasses positive psychology and virtue, spiritual formation, psychology of religion, psychotherapy processes and outcomes, intercultural competence and social justice, psychopathology, and practitioner well-being. He has co-authored and edited…

Research topics

• Psychology
• Psychotherapist
• Political Science
• Social psychology
• Medicine
• Sociology
• Clinical psychology
• Epistemology
• Theology
• Psychiatry

Selected publications

• Virtue, flourishing, and positive psychology in psychotherapy: An overview and research prospectus.

  Psychotherapy · 2020 · 117 citations

  Researchers have increasingly called for the examination of both mental health symptoms and well-being when providing and evaluating psychotherapy, and although symptoms and well-being are typically inversely related, these appear to be distinct constructs that may require distinct intervention strategies. Positive psychology interventions, virtue-based treatments, and psychotherapies explicitly focused on promoting well-being have emerged in response to, or perhaps in concert with, the calls fo…

  DOI

• Relational spirituality in psychotherapy: Healing suffering and promoting growth.

  American Psychological Association eBooks · 2020 · 73 citations

  1st authorCorresponding

  "Spiritual and existential struggles tell a story about the quality of clients' lives, beyond what clinicians can learn from their mental health symptoms alone. This book presents the Relational Spirituality Model (RSM) of psychotherapy, a creative clinical process that engages existential themes to help people make sense of profound suffering or trauma. To promote healing and growth, practitioners using the RSM provide a secure and challenging therapeutic space, while guiding clients as they ex…

  PublisherDOI

• Religious/spiritual struggles and depression during COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns in the global south: Evidence of moderation by positive religious coping and hope.

  Psychology of Religion and Spirituality · 2022 · 42 citations

  DOI

• Testing a relational spirituality model of psychotherapy clients’ preferences and functioning

  Journal of Spirituality in Mental Health · 2020 · 23 citations

  1st authorCorresponding

  This study tested hypotheses about client preferences and functioning based on a relational spirituality model of psychotherapy in a sample (N = 101) of adult clients at a community mental health center in the northeastern United States. Most clients wanted to engage spiritual, religious, and existential issues in treatment and this preference was positively related to both spiritual/religious commitment and questing. Clients’ ratings of therapist diversity sensitivity were associated with ratin…

  PublisherDOI

• Intellectual humility and religion/spirituality: a scoping review of research

  The Journal of Positive Psychology · 2023 · 14 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  Intellectual humility (IH) is a promising construct that has often been linked to religion and spirituality (R/S). In this paper, we provide a narrative review of the literature on this intersection, analyzing articles (n = 43) found through database searches. Consistent with previous reviews and critiques, we find that definitional confusion around IH is exacerbated by inconsistencies in how it is related to R/S and that empirical research has been mostly limited to cross-sectional studies. We…

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Peter J. Jankowski

  Bethel University

  84 shared

• Sarah A. Crabtree

  Boston University

  36 shared

• Everett L. Worthington

  33 shared

• David R. Paine

  Loras College

  33 shared

• David Rupert

  28 shared

• George Stavros

  27 shared

• Nancy G. Devor

  Boston University

  26 shared

• Laura E. Captari

  25 shared

Awards & honors

• Narramore Award for excellence in the integration of psychol…
• Applied Psychology of Religion and Spirituality Award from D…

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