Education:

• Ph.D. Spirituality, Oblate School of Theology

• M.S. Bible & Ministry, Lubbock Christian University

• B.S. Civil Engineering, University of Minnesota

About:

Dr. Pocta is a spirituality scholar, ministry builder, and educator. After nearly three decades of pastoral work, he returned to school for his PhD in spirituality. His work blends his experience in pastoral ministry with spirituality scholarship. His research interests include the spiritual journey, spiritual wilderness, contemporary church culture, and Christian mysticism.

Publications:

• Pocta, David, and Amanda Avila Kaminski, eds. Resurrection and Contemporary Spirituality: Navigating Faith in an Uncertain World (Mahwah: Paulist Press, 2026).

• Cries from the Wilderness: Reimagining Church Culture in the Age of Uncertainty (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2023).

• “Naming the Wound: Wilderness, Dark Nights, and Deconstruction,” Teleios 4, no 1 (Winter 2024).

• Pocta, David, and John J. Markey, eds. The Future of Christian Spirituality—In Our Lives, In Our Churches, and In the Academy: Essays in Honor of Fr. Ron Rolheiser (New York: Crossroad Publishing, 2022).

• “Thomas Kelly’s Mystical Itinerary as a Spiritual Orientation for Personal Spirituality” In The Quaker World, eds. Rhiannon Grant and Wess Daniels (New York: Routledge, 2022).

• “Thomas Wayne ‘Kip’ McKean: Saint or Scoundrel—Normalizing Extreme Perspectives on a Foundational Figure in the International Churches of Christ,” Teleios 1, no 2 (Summer 2021), 43-62.