Wallace Bruce Clift, Jr. (March 27, 1926 – February 5, 2018)[1][2] was an American priest and academic. He was the author of several books and articles in the field of the psychology of religion and a professor emeritus at the University of Denver, where he chaired the Department of Religion for many years.[3] He lectured and gave workshops extensively in the United States, Australia, Europe, and Asia on such topics as Jungian psychology, Christian theology, pilgrimage, spiritual growth, dream interpretation, journaling, and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.[4][5] Clift published six books, three of which were co-authored with his wife, the Reverend Jean Dalby Clift.[6][7]
Early career and education
Clift earned a bachelor's degree with honors in economics and government from the University of Texas at Austin in 1949.[6] He then went on to earn a law degree at Harvard Law School in 1952, and practiced law at Baker, Botts, Andrews and Parish in Houston, Texas, before attending seminary.[6] He married another attorney at the firm, Jean Dalby, in 1954.[3] In 1960, he earned an M.Div. from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific.[6] Ordained deacon in 1960 and priest in 1961, Clift served as vicar of Grace Church and the Church of the Resurrection in Houston until 1964.[3] While in Houston, Clift attended the major address by then-presidential candidate Senator John F. Kennedy to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association on September 12, 1960, regarding Kennedy's ability to make decisions independent of the Roman Catholic Church (he is viewable at the 1:38 mark in the recorded video of the address).[8]
In 1964, Clift received a Farish Foundation grant to study the psychology of Carl Jung.[3] He studied from 1964 to 1966 at the C. G. Jung Institute in Zürich, Switzerland, where he worked with analyst Jolande Jacobi.[9] He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago Divinity School with his dissertation "Psychological and Biblical-Theological Perspectives on Hope from the Viewpoints of C. G. Jung and John Knox".[10]
Academic career
Clift taught psychology of religion at the University of Denver from 1969 to 1992, and in 1981 helped start its joint Ph.D. program in religious and theological studies with the Iliff School of Theology.[3][11]
Clift co-founded the C. G. Jung Society of Colorado in 1976, and served as its first president.[12] After his retirement from the University of Denver in 1992, Clift was appointed Canon Theologian of the Episcopal Diocese of Colorado and invited to head the Anglican Studies program at St. Thomas Theological Seminary.[13] When St. Thomas closed in 1995, Clift and the Episcopal diocesan bishop negotiated the Anglican Studies program's move to the Methodist Iliff School of Theology, where Clift continued to head the program for another seven years.[13]
Professional recognition
In 2000, Bette Lanning endowed the Wallace B. and Jean Dalby Clift Scholarship Fund at Iliff to provide funds for students enrolled in its Anglican Studies Program.[14] Church Divinity School of the Pacific awarded Clift an honorary doctorate in 2003.[6] Clift served as President of the Standing Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Colorado from 1989 to 1990[3] and was Canon Theologian Emeritus of the diocese.[15]
