The Princeton Police Department has not yet completed its investigation into the August 26 automobile accident at Stockton Street and Library Place that took the life of Princeton Theological Seminary Professor Emeritus Donald Capps, 76. According to the latest report, his wife Karen, 73, remains in stable condition at Capitol Health Regional Medical Center, where Mr. Capps died at 8:54 p.m. the night of the accident.

According to Seminary President Dr. Craig Barnes, in a statement on the Seminary’s website, “Don Capps represented the very best in our profession. He was an accomplished scholar whose works shaped the field of pastoral theology. He was a beloved teacher who taught generations of future pastors to care not only for others but for themselves. He made a lasting impact on the church and our campus community, and we will miss him dearly.”

Professor of Pastoral Theology at the Seminary Robert Dykstra referred to his colleague’s kindness. “He always erred on the side of unfailing kindness on behalf of the individual. Don would shower attention on individual students and others who found themselves somehow off the beaten path, whose ideas about and experiences of God were spoken only hesitantly. It’s fair to say that Princeton Seminary, the discipline of pastoral theology, and the lives of many who have found themselves on the far edges of a Christian community in which they don’t quite fit, but cannot quit, will not see the judicious likes of Don Capps again.”

In 1981, after earning his BD and STM from Yale Divinity School and his MA and PhD from the Divinity School of the University of Chicago, Mr. Capps joined the Seminary faculty as the William Harte Felmeth Professor of Pastoral Theology. He drew on his training as a psychologist of religion in both his teaching and his writing. His research interests included pastoral care, psychobiography, and the psychology of religion, art, and poetry. His courses covered pastoral counseling, poetry, and the care of souls, pastoral care of the life cycle, and people with chronic psychological disorders.

Mr. Capps authored or co-authored over 30 books and over one hundred chapters, articles, and reviews. His publications include Men and Their Religion: Honor, Hope, and Humor (2002), A Time to Laugh: the Religion of Humor (2005), and The Decades of Life: A Guide to Human Development (2008). He was an ordained minister in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Upon his retirement in 2009, the Seminary’s Board of Trustees elected Professor Capps to emeritus status. He is survived by his wife, Karen, and a son, John Michael Capps.

The information for this article is from the Seminary’s website (http://ptsem.edu/capps).