Karen D. Scheib

The Rev. Dr. Karen D. Scheib has returned to Candler as Scholar-in-Residence after retiring in 2020 as Professor of Pastoral Care and Pastoral Theology. Scheib began teaching practical and pastoral theology at Candler in 1998, and served as director of the school’s Women, Theology, and Ministry program for many years. She 

Scheib’s research interests include faith and health, theological and cultural dimensions of crises and trauma, and narrative theory and therapy. She is the author of Challenging Invisibility: Practices of Care with Older Women (Chalice Press, 2004), Pastoral Care: Telling the Stories of Our Lives (Abingdon Press, 2016), and Attend to Stories: How to Flourish in Ministry (Wesley's Foundery Books, 2018). In addition, Scheib has contributed to several other books, and written for numerous scholarly and popular publications. Her current writing explores the intersection of ecclesiology and practices of care. She served on the editorial board of Journal of Pastoral Theology from 2003-2005 and as the managing editor from 2005-2008.

A widely sought teacher and presenter, Scheib has been a frequent visiting professor and lecturer at the Methodist Theological University in Seoul, South Korea, Arhus University in Aarhus, Denmark, and the Methodist University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. She is a member of the American Academy of Religion and the Society for Pastoral Theology. At Emory and Candler, Scheib served on numerous university committees and leadership teams, including the University Senate from 2015-2017. She was also the faculty advisor to the Korean graduate student group at Emory for 15 years.

Scheib is an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church and has served on the North Georgia Annual Conference Board of Ordained Ministry, and on the advisory board and an adjunct faculty member for the Center for Leadership Training and Education of the Bahamas Conference of the Methodist Church.