Paul Schenck

Paul Chaim Schenck (born 1958) is a pastoral practitioner, author and lecturer. He is a member of the ordained clergy.
Early life and work
Schenck was born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, to Henry P. Schenck and Marjorie M. Apgar. He has two sisters and an identical twin brother with whom he was raised in Grand Island, New York. His father was born Jewish and his mother converted to Judaism from the Catholic and Anglican (Episcopal) churches. He and his brother attended Hebrew School in nearby Niagara Falls until the sixth grade. As a teenager, Schenck turned away from Judaism, and after a period of atheism and agnosticism, he became a born-again Christian. He was married in 1977 in an interfaith ceremony in Niagara Falls, New York, presided by Paul Fodor, the Hungarian Holocaust survivor and author. At the time, Schenck was a student in the Institute of Jewish Studies at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Schenck became director of the Empire State Teen Challenge center, a faith-based residential treatment program for persons with "life-controlling problems" such as substance use and abuse, antisocial behaviors, criminal conduct, and relational conflicts. He has been active as a religious professional for more than 40 years as a religious educator, counselor, and executive.
Education and experience
Schenck graduated from the Luther Rice University in 1984 with a B.A. in biblical studies with a focus on the Hebrew Old Testament. He stood his canonical examinations at the Philadelphia Theological Seminary in 1995. In 2005, he received a Master Certificate in Executive Leadership from the Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame. He received a master's degree in health care ethics from the Bioethics Institute at Holy Apostles College in Cromwell, Connecticut, and received certification in health care ethics. He completed coursework with the Institute for the Psychological Sciences in Arlington, Virginia, where he gained the degree of Master of Science in psychology, and holds dual Doctorates in Educational Leadership and Pastoral Practice from the School of Arts and Education of St. Thomas University and the Graduate Theological Foundation. He completed the seminar in Jewish philosophy at the Yeshiva Ohr Sameach in Jerusalem, and studied Hebrew at the Baltimore Hebrew University. He completed the Master Course in bioethics at the Kennedy Institute at Georgetown University taught by Dr. Edmund Pellegrino. Schenck is a registered practitioner with the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE), is Board Certified in pastoral counseling, and is listed as a pastoral counselor with Psychology Today.
Between 1988 and 1992 Schenck became known as a pro-life activist, author, media commentator, and a leader of large public demonstrations. He challenged a federal injunction prohibiting certain demonstration activities. The case, Schenck V. Pro-Choice Network, 519 U.S. 357 (1997). was decided by the US Supreme Court, which found 8 -1 that certain restrictions against Schenck violated the First Amendment, and 6-3, that others were permissible in the interest of public safety. The remaining restrictions were subsequently struck down in McCullen v. Coakley, 573 U.S. 464 (2014). Between 1994 and 1997, Schenck was executive vice president of the American Center for Law & Justice, a public interest law firm then headed by attorney Jay Alan Sekulow. Sekulow argued Schenck's Supreme Court case. After 2016, Paul Schenck and his twin brother, Robert, "Rev. Rob Schenck", publicly distanced themselves from the pro-life movement. Rob Schenck published a memoir entitled, Cheap Grace, that criticized the movement for making moral compromises in exchange for political legitimacy. The Schenck brothers no longer consider themselves pro-life leaders.
Schenck is currently completing post-graduate work in Jewish Professional Studies and Interfaith Leadership at Gratz College near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. According to the website www.revdrschenck.com, Schenck provides counseling services to persons facing life-altering decisions and problems from all faith traditions and religiously non affiliated persons. He also advises students and scholars completing higher degrees.
Professional life
As of 2020, Schenck is a spiritual integration counselor in private practice with clients in telehealth, clinical, and office practice. He is a member of the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education in which he is a registered practitioner (#16634). He is also a member of the National Board of Pastoral Counselors, the American Counseling Association, the Association for Transpersonal Psychology, the Association for Jewish Studies, the Institute for Jewish Ideas, and the Fuchsberg Jerusalem Center Yeshiva.
In his pastoral counseling practice, he uses an eclectic approach, with the main focus on spiritually interpreted Logo-therapy. Developed by the renowned neuro-psychiatrist and author, Dr. Viktor Frankl. Logotherapy aims to discover and apply a sense of meaning and purpose in overcoming problems in life such as substance use and abuse, relational conflicts, self-esteem, and self-care, anxiety and depression, and spiritual needs such as love, companionship, enjoyment, optimism, and religious fulfillment.
Schenck has taught at the Elim Bible Institute, Lima, New York, the Reformed Episcopal Seminary, Philadelphia, and Thomas More College in Manchester, NH, and was a guest lecturer at Messiah University, Grantham, PA, the State University of New York, Georgetown University, and American University. He is a frequent lecturer on religious, moral, and ethical topics, as well as the bible, Jewish-Christian, and interfaith studies. In 2019 ProQuest published his research in the experience and operation of sensual and emotional empathy using the seminal theoretical work of the phenomenologist, Edith Stein.
A member of the ordained clergy, he has served in three denominations: the Assemblies of God, The Reformed Episcopal Church (now the Anglican Church of North America), and the Roman Catholic Church.
His publications include: Who Converted the Great Synagogue into a Movie Theater? (2021, Gratz College/Researchgate), Divorce After Conversion (2020, Gratz College/Researchgate), Jeremiah: A Psycho-social Profile (2020, Gratz College/Researchgate), Early American Jewish Personalities (2021, Gratz College/Researchgate), Eastern European Jewish Culture (2021, Gratz College/Researchgate), Empathy Towards Persons (ProQuest, 2019), The Blackstone Commentaries on the Common Law (4 volumes, Hein Law Publishing, 1994), A Tyranny of Consensus (1993, Vital Issues Press), Constitutions of American Denominations, with Rob Schenck (3 volumes, Hein Law Publishing, 1983), Ten Words that will Save A Nation, with Rob Schenck, and Annotated Letter from the Birmingham Jail and Bonhoeffer on Nascent Human Life (National Clergy Council, 1989; 1990). Articles by or about him have been published in/at Time Magazine, Newsweek Magazine, LIFE Magazine, The New York Times, US News & World Report, among others. He has been interviewed at PBS Newshour, ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, CBN, EWTN, NPR, CBS Radio, and many independent news outlets.
Since December, 2021, Schenck has been a chaplain resident in the US Veteran's Administration medical center in Lebanon, PA.

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu