Pastoral Theology and Care: Critical Trajectories in Theory and Practice

Leading pastoral theologians explore a wide variety of themes related to pastoral practice.

Pastoral Theology and Care: Critical Trajectories in Theory and Practice offers a collection of essays by leading pastoral theologians that represent emerging trajectories in the fields of pastoral theology and care. The topics explored include: qualitative research and ethnography, advances in neuroscience, care across pluralities and intersections in religion and spiritualties, the influence of neoliberal economics in socio–economic vulnerabilities, postcolonial theory and its implications, the intersections of race and religion in caring for black women, and the usefulness of intersectionality for pastoral practice. Each of the essays offers a richly illustrated review of a practice of pastoral care relationally and in the public domain.

The contributions to this volume engage seven critical directions emerging in the literature of pastoral theology in the United States and internationally among pastoral and practical theologians. While coverage of these topics does not exhaust important points of activity in the field, it does represent especially promising resources for theory and practice. This important work:

Offers unique coverage of new directions in the field Includes contributions from an exceptional group of experts who are noted leaders in their areas of study Introduces the newest perspectives on pastoral care and offers constructive proposals

Filled with case illustrations that make chapters pedagogically useful, Pastoral Theology and Care is essential reading for faculty, seminarians and students in advanced degree programs, and pastors.

List of Contributors ix

Introduction 1
Nancy J. Ramsay

1 Practice Matters: New Directions in Ethnography and Qualitative Research 5
Mary Clark Moschella

2 How the Brain Matters 31
David A. Hogue

3 Class Power and Human Suffering: Resisting the Idolatry of the Market in Pastoral Theology and Care 55
Bruce Rogers ]Vaughn

4 Postcolonializing Pastoral Theology: Enhancing the Intercultural Paradigm 79
Emmanuel Y. Amugi Lartey

5 Caring from a Distance: Intersectional Pastoral Theology amid Plurality Regarding Spirituality and Religion 99
Kathleen J. Greider

6 Womanist Pastoral Theology and Black Women s Experience of Gender, Religion, and Sexuality 125
Phillis Isabella Sheppard

7 Analyzing and Engaging Asymmetries of Power: Intersectionality as a Resource for Practices of Care 149
Nancy J. Ramsay

Nancy J. Ramsay is Professor of Pastoral Theology and Pastoral Care, Brite Divinity School, Fort Worth Texas. Previously, she served on the faculty of Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary as the Harrison Ray Anderson Professor of Pastoral Theology.