While many pastoral ministry books focus on the practical duties of the pastor, few works actually consider how theological truth defines the pastor’s role and responsibilities. These pragmatic ministry tools, though instructionally beneficial, essentially divorce biblical doctrine from ministerial practice. As a result, pastors’ lives and ministries often lack the theological roots that provide the stability and nourishment necessary to sustain them. Pastoral Theology constructs a theological framework for pastoral ministry that is biblically derived, historically informed, doctrinally sound, missionally engaged, and contextually relevant. By using traditional theological categories the authors explore the correlation between evangelical doctrine and pastoral practice. Through careful theological integration they formulate a ministry philosophy that defines the pastoral office and determines its corresponding responsibilities in light of theological truth. The authors provide a theological understanding of the pastorate that will equip aspiring pastors to discern and pursue their calling, challenge younger pastors to build on ministerial truth instead of ministerial trends, and inspire seasoned pastors to be reinvigorated in their passion for Christ and his church.

From a thoroughly biblical viewpoint Eduard Thurneysen probes deeply into the nature and practice of pastoral care. His rich understanding of men, his experience in counseling, and his grasp of theological thought infuse his approach with vitality and truth. As he considers the basis of pastoral care, Thurneysen puts forward the thesis that the purpose of counseling is to communicate the Word of God to individuals. Pastoral care is a ministry along with those of sermon and sacrament; its aim is to lead the counselee back to sermon and sacrament in the worship of the church. Although he does little more than hint at rules and techniques for pastoral care, Thurneysen is greatly concerned with its practical aspects. It is his belief that the care of souls occurs through conversation--confident, open-minded conversation which is founded on the Word of God, informed by prayer, and manifested in active listening to, and acceptance of, the counselee. Thurneysen demonstrates the importance of a knowledge of psychology and the principles of psychotherapy. Depth psychology and psychotherapy deeply enrich our understanding of human nature and serve to communicate the message of forgiveness all the more powerfully. This book provides a critical theological study of the whole field of pastoral care. As a work in practical theology, it will be stimulating and useful to professors of counseling as well as to students in the field. Counselors and pastors will find it helpful because it throws light on the fundamental issues involved in problems which they face in their ministries.

The basic idea of this book derives from Paul Ricoeur's view that since texts and meaningful human actions are sufficiently similar, methods and theories developed for interpreting texts may also be used for interpreting human actions. Donald Capps applies this view to the broad range of pastoral actions and, in the process, formulates a unique and helpful hermeneutical model of pastoral care. Capps maintains that such a model can be extremely useful for understanding what a particular pastoral action means to those involved in it, and for evaluating its effects on these persons.

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.