David Macbeth Moss        
When I was eleven I made the decision to enter the Episcopal priesthood. While at Gables High School I developed that goal with the intention of being a theologian. David Dworkin, Louis Stinson and several other members of Ching Tang encouraged me to peruse this vision. The published version of that story is the product of a shark hunt. (www.chingtang.com/pages/searchingforsharks.html). After high school a cluster of Gables students went to the new junior college. This was academic rehabilitation with a degree; and it was exactly what I needed. I transferred to Washington University in St. Louis, where I was born. After graduating I entered seminary in Chicago where I earned two masters degrees in theology before entering Northwestern University where I was awarded a Ph.D.
During graduate school I served as the assistant rector to a large urban church in Chicago. I have also been a hospital and a university chaplain. I have been the executive director of two pastoral counseling centers. However, during most of my career I have been in the private practice of psychotherapy. This has given me the latitude to explore two distinct yet interrelated career paths--psychology and religion. These disciplines are the focii of my publications.
In 1990 I received a doctorate in theology from an English university which guided my case study of a homicide. This experience took me to a new level of non-risk-free research. Shortly after the publication of the homicide I became involved in another field of study, this time with the Ku Klux Klan. As a priest I have been in many places a psychotherapist would never go, including a Hamas recruiting station in Israel. The net result of this type in frontline-research was an honorary doctorate awarded by my seminary. I was recommended for this degree by Albert Schweitzer's daughter, Rena-- the mentor of my adulthood.
While I have no more degrees to pursue, when I turned 65 I was initiated into the Postgraduate Association of Harvard Medical School. My area here is psychiatry.
All this activity raises a concern: when you have an Episcopal profile and a psychoanalytic orientation, as well as an ethic of sound scholarship and academic discipline, what do you do in your late 60's. The answer: write a Western!!! Fact: in 1871 my great, great grandfather saved Jesse James' life. There were serious consequences for the doctor, who was also a trick shot. So you can guess what I am up to besides slaving over a hot altar.
My wife, Denni, and I have been married over a quarter of a century. As I was, she was born in St. Louis and is also an Episcopal priest. She is the rector of an historic parish church in Washington, Georgia, a little over 100 miles from Atlanta, where I live and work. We've had a commuter marriage for several years. I have no children but we have four grandchildren - two of whom are also David Dworkin's grandsons. The shark article explains this if you are interested.     2011