From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Dr. James C. Dobson, Ph.D., is a conservative Christian psychologist who presents a daily radio program called Focus on the Family on over 6,000 stations worldwide in more than a dozen languages. He is chairman of the board of a nonprofit ogranization based in Colorado Springs, Colorado of the same name, which he founded in 1977. His programs are heard by more than 200 million people every day, Focus on the Family is also on 80 US television stations daily.
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Dobson is an Evangelical Christian with significant political clout, because he can mobilize his listeners to contact politicians with civic concerns. Liberal critics label Dobson as a fundamentalist, but some fundamentalists are among his severest critics mainly because Dobson works cooperatively with Protestant and Roman Catholic Christians and Jews, and because the organization is politically active. Many fundamentalists also decry his mixture of psychology and faith.
He first became well-known with the publication of Dare to Discipline, a book encouraging the spanking of children, a matter of considerably controversy (see below).
Dr. Dobson has an earned doctorate in child development from the University of Southern California (1967). He was an Associate Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Southern California School of Medicine for 14 years. He spent 17 years on the staff of the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles in the Division of Child Development and Medical Genetics.
He is a clinical member of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, a licensed psychologist in California, and is listed in Who's Who in Medicine and Healthcare. He also has a long list of honorary doctorates from various institutions.
Dobson has also served at the invitation of presidents and attorneys general on government advisory panels and testified at several government hearings. Among many other awards he has been given the "Layman of the Year" award by the National Association of Evangelicals in 1982, "The Children's Friend" honor by Childhelp USA, (an advocate agency against child abuse) in 1987, and the Humanitarian Award by the California Psychological Association (1988).
Dobson has authored or coauthored 31 books, including:
In The Strong-Willed Child, Dobson compares child rearing with dog rearing. He describes a situation in which Sigmund, the family dog, refuses to leave his resting place, the "furry lid of the toilet seat":
Anti-spanking groups have criticized such views as highly simplistic and dangerous to children.
On The Passion of the Christ:
 Radios Golden Years: The Encyclopedia of Radio Programs, 1930-1960 |
 A Thirty-Year History of Programs Carried on National Radio Networks in the United States, 1926-1956. |
 Radio Drama: A Comprehensive Chronicle of American Network Programs, 1932-1962 |
 Radio Program Openings and Closings, 1931-1972 | ||||
 Radio Programs, 1924-1984: A Catalog of over 1800 Shows |
 Media Log: A Guide to Film, Television, and Radio Programs Supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, Division of Pu |
 Great Radio Audience Participation Shows: Seventeen Programs from the 1940s and 1950s |
 Radio Program Ideabook. | ||||
 Greater than the bomb : the first publication in English of a radio program broadcast internationally in 1950 and repeated many times since |
