About
Rev. Dr. Jaime Clark-Soles is a New Testament scholar and ordained Baptist minister whose work has always moved between the academy and the life of faith.
For more than two decades she has taught at Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University, where she holds an Altshuler Distinguished Teaching Professorship, the university's highest teaching honor.
The Scholar
Her scholarly specialty is the Gospel of John and the broader Johannine literature, which includes the letters of John and Revelation. She has also written extensively on death and the afterlife, examining how the New Testament addresses suffering and hope. She is the author of seven books. Her work is used in seminaries, universities, and church communities, and she has spoken to audiences ranging from academic conferences to hospital settings.
She holds a B.A. from Stetson University, an M.Div. from Yale Divinity School, and a Ph.D. in New Testament from Yale University.
The Minister
She is an ordained American Baptist minister with experience in congregational ministry and hospice care. That experience is not incidental to her scholarship. It shapes what questions she asks and her conviction that all of her different audiences deserve careful answers that take their own contexts seriously.
This Work
Her engagement with psychedelics grew from questions she encountered at the intersection of clinical research and pastoral reality.
As psychedelic treatments began showing real promise for people suffering from conditions that had resisted other interventions, a consistent pattern emerged: many patients described their experiences in spiritual terms. For a scholar who had spent years studying how extraordinary encounters with God have shaped Christian tradition, that emergent pattern raised theological questions she could not set aside.
She did not approach the subject from a distance. She participated in the Johns Hopkins study on psilocybin and religious professionals, one of the landmark studies in this field. She has since completed the Certificate in Psychedelic Therapies and Research through the California Institute of Integral Studies, where she now serves as a mentor and lecturer. She has additional training in ketamine-assisted therapy.
Her current research affiliations include the Emory Center for Psychedelics and Spirituality, where she serves as a Field Scholar, and the Harvard Law School Petrie-Flom Center, where she is a past Research Affiliate with the PULSE project on psychedelic use, law, and spiritual experience.
Speaking
She speaks regularly to universities, seminaries, hospitals, counseling centers, churches, and at conferences. Her speaking topics include:
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Spirituality and psychedelics
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Christianity and psychedelics: How do they relate? Or not?
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Cultural competence in Christianity for therapists, chaplains, and others who want to better serve clients
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Psychedelic Chaplaincy
speaking and media inquiries
For a full list of speaking topics including other areas of her expertise, visit her website here:
Short Bio for Press
The following bio is available for press materials, conference programs, and podcast introductions.
Rev. Dr. Jaime Clark-Soles is Professor of New Testament and Altshuler Distinguished Teaching Professor at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University. She is the author of seven books, including Reading John for Dear Life and Women in the Bible. An ordained American Baptist minister, she participated in the Johns Hopkins psilocybin study with religious professionals and now serves as a Field Scholar at the Emory Center for Psychedelics and Spirituality. Her book Psychedelics and Soul Care: What Christians Need to Know is now available for preorder.