Care of Souls, Care of Polis


Book Description

In the fields of pastoral care and pastoral theology, there are times when a book signals a paradigm shift. This is one such book. LaMothe develops a political pastoral theology that is used to examine critically political, economic, and societal structures and practices. In the first part of the book, LaMothe argues that care and pastoral care are political concepts, which, along with the notion of justice, can be used as a hermeneutical framework to assess macropolitical and macroeconomic realities. Included in this section is the notion of civil and redemptive discourse, necessary for the survival and flourishing of persons and polis. The last section of the book examines U.S. Empire, capitalism, class, classism, and other pressing political issues using the hermeneutical lens of care.




Care of Souls, Care of Polis


Book Description

In the fields of pastoral care and pastoral theology, there are times when a book signals a paradigm shift. This is one such book. LaMothe develops a political pastoral theology that is used to examine critically political, economic, and societal structures and practices. In the first part of the book, LaMothe argues that care and pastoral care are political concepts, which, along with the notion of justice, can be used as a hermeneutical framework to assess macropolitical and macroeconomic realities. Included in this section is the notion of civil and redemptive discourse, necessary for the survival and flourishing of persons and polis. The last section of the book examines U.S. Empire, capitalism, class, classism, and other pressing political issues using the hermeneutical lens of care.




Pastoral Theology and Care


Book Description

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.




Naming Neoliberalism


Book Description

Neoliberalism, a panoply of cultural, political, and economic practices that set marketized competition at the center of social life, is rife in our age. Naming Neoliberalism lays out for pastors, thoughtful laypersons, and students, what neoliberalism is, where it has come from, and how it can be confronted through and in the church.




A Radical Political Theology for the Anthropocene Era


Book Description

Given the fierce urgency of now, this important book confronts and addresses key problems and questions of political theology with the aim of proposing a radical political theology for the Anthropocene Age. LaMothe invites readers to think and be otherwise in living lives in common with all other human beings and other-than-human beings that dwell on this one earth.




Ethnography as a Pastoral Practice


Book Description

Ethnography is a way to tap the deep undercurrents in a community through a process of gathering, analyzing, and sharing data. Fully revised and updated for this second edition, Ethnography as a Pastoral Practice has quickly become the go-to textbook for those in or training for ministry who want to discover how they can use ethnography to help them hear the stories of those to whom they minister. Setting forth the case for ethnography’s ability to galvanize aspirations and heal communal hurt, this book presents the helpful pastoral practice of ethnography in a clear, step-by-step manner and includes many compelling case studies of transformational leadership. Ethnography as a Pastoral Practice invites us to open our eyes, ears and hearts to those in our congregations.




The Art of Spiritual Care Across Religious Difference


Book Description

The Art of Spiritual Care across Religious Difference equips spiritual caregivers to offer competent care amid religious pluralism. This book presents theory and practices to help caregivers think reflexively about their own religious locations and how these locations impact relational dynamics with care seekers across diverse cultural contexts.




Care, Healing, and, Human Well-Being within Interreligious Discourses


Book Description

Care, Healing, and Human Well-Being within Interreligious Discourses is an edited, peer reviewed volume of global perspectives on interreligious approaches to healing and well-being by 23 academics and practitioners from five different faith practices and 13 different cultures. With chapters by counsellors, chaplains, religious thinkers and linguists, the multifaceted nature of the volume provides an expansive approach to spiritual care and counselling. In order to understand the ways in which interreligious encounters can have an enriching effect on our humanity, the volume is divided into four sections that address: methodological questions surrounding spiritual caregiving, perspectives of different faith traditions on care and healing, the challenges to the praxis of care in diverse cultural and political settings and, finally, how spiritual care and healing can be carried out in public places such as the police, the military, and hospitals. The book is an outgrowth of 25 years of experience within the Society for Interreligious Care and Counselling (SIPCC) to promote better understanding and practices of intercultural and interreligious spiritual caregiving.




Insurrectionist Wisdoms


Book Description

Through practical theological and anthro/gynopological methods, Insurrectionist Wisdoms: Toward a North American Indigenized Pastoral Theology offers an analysis of the situation of working-class Maya mexicanas living in Yucatán, México, working on the assembly line of a multinational corporation. Relying on in-depth, firsthand interviews, Marlene M. Ferreras brings to light the exploitation of women of color by large, multimillion-dollar corporations and delves into the ways these women can, and do, fight back. Drawing on a decolonial approach to pastoral theology and feminism, Ferreras proposes Lxs Hijxs de Maíz as an image for pastoral care and counseling.




The Rowman & Littlefield Handbook of Contemporary Christianity in the United States


Book Description

The Handbook of Contemporary Christianity in the United States is a one-volume examination of Christianity in its role, contributions, and embattled engagements with the contemporary culture of the postmodern United States. While Christianity has been a sustaining force and dominant storyline of the historical foundations of America, obvious social, political, and scientific inroads have lessened its influence and altered the issues considered. The handbook explores the strengths and weaknesses of the Christian faith and traditions in the United States and its rich and textured history with a discernable eye toward how the message, strategies, and initiatives of Christianity has adapted to contemporary American life.