Joseph Bush served as a United Methodist pastor in New Jersey before moving to the Republic of Fiji to teach courses in Ministry at the ecumenical Pacific Theological College. From there, he moved to Dunedin, New Zealand to join a team of colleagues developing a new program in Ordination Studies for the Presbyterian School of Ministry. Most recently before coming to Wesley, he was teaching at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities in the area of Life and Leadership of the Congregation. His book on pastoral ethics, Gentle Shepherding, was named one of the top ten books for 2006 by the Academy of Parish Clergy.

Education

• Grinnell College, B.A.
• Wesley Theological Seminary, M.Div.
• Drew University, M.Phil., Ph.D.

Publications

• Practical Theology in Church and Society. Eugene: Cascade, 2016.
• Contributor with Sue Withers to Brimming with God: Reflecting Theologically on Cases in Ministry, edited by Matt Floding and Barbara Blodgett: Eugene: Pickwick, 2015
• "The Land Ethic Through a Retroactive Lens: Focusing and Refocusing Moral Community," New Theology Review 26, no. 2 (2014).
• "Keeping Faith in Community:A Pastoral Response and Ethica Argument," Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law, 10:1 (Fall 2012).
• Gentle Shepherding: Pastoral Ethics and Leadership, St. Louis: Chalice Press, 2006
• "Pastoral Confidentiality." Business & Professional Ethics Journal - Incorporating Professional Ethics: A Multidisciplinary Journal 22, no. 4 (Winter 2004): 67-92.
• "Informed Consent and Parish Clergy." The Journal of Pastoral Care and Counseling 57, no. 4 (Winter 2003): 427-436.
• "Playful Prayer: A Way to Worship While Preparing to Lead." The Preacher: Quarterly Journal of the New Zealand Lay Preachers Association (October 2002): 9-14.
• "Natural Ambivalence." Stimulus: The New Zealand Journal of Christian Thought and Practice (January 2001) .
• "Genetic Modification: Theological and Ethical Issues." Will the ENZ Justify the Genes? Wellington: Capital City Forum (August 2000).
• "New Cosmology and Old Questions: Reflections on Fifty Years of Thinking about Christianity and Ecology." Colloquium: The Australian and New Zealand Theological Review 32, no. 1 (2000): 51-70.
• "Land and Communal Faith: Methodist Belief and Ritual in Fiji." Studies in World Christianity 6, no. 1 (Edinburgh: Spring 2000).
• "Rhetoric and Risk in Genetic Modification." Wellington: Crosslink (November 1999).
• "Reactionary Methodism and the Rule of Law in Fiji." In Religion and Law in the Global Village. McGill Studies in Religion, edited by D.E. Guinn, C. Barrigar, K. Young (Atlanta: Scholar's Press, 1999).
• "Defining Group Rights and Delineating Sovereignty: A Case from the Republic of Fiji." American University International Law Review 14, no. 3 (1999).