The minister and trauma psychologist bridging the worlds of spirituality and psychology
The men’s choir had just brought down the house with the gospel classic “Miracle Worker” when Thema Bryant danced up to the lectern at First AME Church in South L.A.
Pastor Thema Bryant, also a professor of psychology at Pepperdine University, preaches at First African Methodist Episcopal Church in South L.A. Bryant’s many admirers within academia, the psychology field and the Black church say that she often serves as a bridge between them. Bryant’s many admirers within academia, the psychology field and the Black church say that she often serves as a bridge between them. Perhaps this explains why more than 332,000 people follow her“She is what I call a philosopher-therapist-poet,” said her brother, the Rev. Jamal Bryant, pastor of the 15,000-member New Birth Missionary Church outside Atlanta. “Hearing her preach, you are in a lecture hall, a spoken word cafe and lying on a couch.
Bryant sees people of many faiths — and no faith — in her private practice and says spirituality comes up only when it’s relevant for her clients. She never tries to convert anyone. Still, her official bio identifies her as both psychologist and Christian minister. John Bryant remembers when he asked his congregation to go into inner-city Baltimore to win people to Christ. While checking on his flock’s progress, he came across his daughter— then a skinny 11-year-old — praying with a large man he’d never seen before.
Bryant’s early interest in psychology was rooted in her father’s pastoral counseling. “People were always calling the church or calling the house for pastoral care,” she said. When she discovered psychology — counseling minus the pastoral duties — she was sold. “I was like, ‘Oh, that’s me,’” she said.— Jamal Bryant on his sister, Thema Bryant.
Jamal Bryant put it this way: “She has the wisdom of a 90-year-old grandmother and the philosophy of a German scholar. And to be an ordained clergy on top of that — she’s a phenom.”Bryant spent most of her childhood in Baltimore, but when she entered 10th grade her father became the bishop of West Africa for the AME Church and the family moved to Liberia. Jamal wasn’t happy to miss his senior year of high school in America, but Bryant loved it.
But the family’s time in Liberia was abruptly cut short. A civil war had broken out and the fighting was moving closer to Paynesville, where they lived. In the spring of 1990 the Bryants were told they had to evacuate within 48 hours or the U.S. government could no longer ensure their safety. Back at Duke, she struggled academically for the first time in her life. “That’s what led me to get help,” she said.She went to counseling and slowly started telling more friends what happened. She also found healing in the arts, particularly dance. “An assault does not just affect your cognition and thoughts, it’s an attack on the body,” she said. “I was able to come through it so well because it wasn’t stuck in my body, and I didn’t develop a hatred for my body.
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