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Jaco Hamman

Professor of Religion, Psychology, and Culture
Director of the Program in Theology and Practice

Jaco J. Hamman is Professor of Religion, Psychology, and Culture and the Director of the Program in Theology and Practice at Vanderbilt Divinity School. A South African, he completed his academic studies and clinical training at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (B.A.), Stellenbosch University (South Africa, B.Th.; M.Th.), Princeton Theological Seminary (Ph.D.), and at the Blanton-Peale Graduate Institute (New York City; Certificates in Psychodynamic Psychotherapy; Marriage and Family Therapy; Group Therapy).

Hamman’s research areas include psychodynamic theory, leadership formation, reception theory, generational expressions of faith, masculinities, and humanity’s deepening relationship with technology. He has published 7 books: Just Traveling: God, Leaving Home, and a Spirituality for the Road (Fortress press, 2021); The Millennial Narrative: Sharing the Good Life with the Next Generation (Abingdon Press, 2019); Growing Down: Theology and Human Nature in the Virtual Age (Baylor University Press, 2017); Becoming a Pastor: Forming Self and Soul for Ministry. Revised and Updated (The Pilgrim Press, 2014); A play-full life: Slowing Down and Seeking Peace (The Pilgrim Press, 2011); Becoming a Pastor: Forming Self and Soul for Ministry (1st, Edition; The Pilgrim Press, 2007); and, When Steeples Cry: Leading Congregations Through Loss and Change (Pilgrim Press, 2005).

His current book projects include Pastoral Virtues for Artificial Intelligence: Pastoral Recommendations (Lexington Books: Forthcoming) and Showing up: A Winning Strategy (Working Title), a co-authored book on leadership. Hamman has also published 25 peer-reviewed articles and 5 book chapters.

He is a co-founder of Our Place Nashville, a 501(c)(3) non-profit that places adults with developmental disabilities in affordable housing alongside graduate students and displaced elderly in Friendship Houses.  

Hamman is a teaching elder in the Presbyterian Church (USA). His hobbies include world music, long-distance motorcycle travel, distilling, and hosting a braai.

Updated:  09/27/21