Robert Edward Neale (born June 23, 1929) is an American minister, psychologist, paperfolder and magician, who wrote several books on the combination of these topics.

Education and career

Neale was born in

Mount Clemens, Michigan Mount Clemens is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 15,697 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the county seat, seat of government of Macomb County, Michigan, Macomb County and part of the Metro Detroit, Det ...

, on June 23, 1929, the son of a lawyer, and grew up in Detroit, Michigan. He studied at

Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zepha ...

and

Union Theological Seminary (New York City) Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York (shortened to UTS or Union) is a private ecumenical liberal Christian seminary in Morningside Heights, Manhattan, affiliated with Columbia University since 1928. Presently, Columbia Univers ...

, working there with

Paul Tillich Paul Johannes Tillich (; ; August 20, 1886 – October 22, 1965) was a German and American Christian existentialist philosopher, religious socialist, and Lutheran theologian who was one of the most influential theologians of the twenti ...

. After working from 1954 to 1957 as a minister for the

United Church of Christ The United Church of Christ (UCC) is a socially liberal mainline Protestant Christian denomination based in the United States, with historical and confessional roots in the Congregational, Restorationist, Continental Reformed, and Lutheran t ...

, he returned to Union Theological Seminary for doctoral study in 1958. He took a faculty position in the psychology of religion there in 1962, completed his PhD in 1964, and earned tenure in 1967. The death of his brother in the same year sparked his interest in death, and he spent six months in England on sabbatical as a guest chaplain, working with the newly formed

hospice Hospice care is a type of health care that focuses on the palliation of a terminally ill patient's pain and symptoms and attending to their emotional and spiritual needs at the end of life. Hospice care prioritizes comfort and quality of life b ...

movement there. He retired in 1986.

Magic and paperfolding

Neale's interest in magic began at an early age. He was one of the founders of the Friends of The Origami Center, the predecessor organization to Origami USA, and in 1981 he was named as its first president. He was awarded a Special Fellowship by the

Academy of Magical Arts The Magic Castle is a performance venue, restaurant, and clubhouse for the Academy of Magical Arts for magicians and magic enthusiasts in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles, California, United States. The Academy was started in 1952 by W ...

in 2013.

Books

Neale's books on magic and paperfolding include: * ''Origami, Plain and Simple'' (with Tom Hull, St. Martin's Press, 1994) * ''Magic and Meaning'' (with

Eugene Burger Eugene Burger (June 1, 1939 – August 8, 2017) was an American magician. He was born in 1939 and was based in Chicago, Illinois. He was acclaimed for his close-up skills and his work in mentalism and bizarre magic. Burger was also a philos ...

, Hermetic Press, 1995; expanded, 2009) * ''Folding Money Fooling: How to Make Entertaining Novelties from Dollar Bills'' (Kaufman, 1997) * ''Frog Tales: How To Fold Jumping Frogs From Poker Cards and do Five Tricks with Them'' (H & R Magic Books, 2001) * ''The Magic Mirror'' (with David Parr, Hermetic Press, 2002) * ''This is Not a Book'' (Hermetic Press, 2008) * ''444 and Three More'' (Theory & Art of Magic Press, 2011) * ''Nine Uneasy Pieces'' (Theory & Art of Magic Press, 2012) * ''The Magic of Celebrating Illusion'' (Theory & Art of Magic Press, 2013) * ''The Sense of Wonder'' (Theory & Art of Magic Press, 2014) * ''An Essay on Magic'' (Theory & Art of Magic Press, 2015) * ''Breaking Our Magic Wands'' (Theory & Art of Magic Press, 2017) * ''Magic Inside Out'' (with Lawrence Hass, Theory & Art of Magic Press, 2021) His other books include: *''In Praise of Play: Toward a Psychology of Religion'' (Harper & Row, 1969) *''The Art of Dying'' (Harper & Row, 1973) *''Death and Ministry: Pastoral care of the dying and the bereaved'' (edited with J. Donald Bane, Austin H. Kutscher, and Robert B. Reeves Jr., Seabury Press, 1973) *''Loneliness, Solitude, and Companionship: New Dimensions in Relationship'' (Westminster Press, 1984)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Neale, Robert 1929 births Living people 21st-century American psychologists Psychologists of religion United Church of Christ ministers Amherst College alumni Origami artists American magicians Union Theological Seminary alumni Union Theological Seminary faculty 20th-century American psychologists