Both his father and his maternal grandfather, Theophilus Adam Wylie from whom his middle name stemmed, were professors at Indiana University.

In 1917, Boisen returned from Europe and experienced another breakdown, but recovered to accept an offer to join the Interchurch World Movement.

[2] After his release, Boisen began studies in the psychology of religion at Andover Theological Seminary where he remained from 1922 to 1924 working especially with the physician and ethicist Richard Cabot.

[2] Also during this period, Boisen began a five-year stint lecturing each fall quarter to students in the social ethics department of Chicago Theological Seminary.

While there Boisen organized a Chicago Council for the Clinical Training of Theological Students,[2] functioning effectively until he learned in 1935 Alice Batchelder was dying of cancer.

"[2] Boisen continued to expound his religious views in additional articles and books, notably Religion in Crisis and Custom (1955) and Out of the Depths (1960), his autobiography.