Pastoral Theology & Care

Instructor: Rev. Dr. Rubén Arjona

IST 2012 Introduction to Pastoral Theology and Care (Spring Quarter 2020, hybrid)

Course Description

This course is an invitation to examine your sense of self and vocational identity in relation to your personal and collective experiences and locations. The course offers a variety of theological and psychological perspectives and tools to help you develop confidence in responding to various circumstances of pastoral care and counseling in the context of parish ministry and other institutional settings.

Learning Goals

As a result of having taken this course, you will:

1. Articulate a working understanding of the nature and tasks of pastoral theology and intercultural pastoral/spiritual care.
2. Demonstrate the ability to listen empathically to those in need of pastoral/spiritual care and respond to their concrete situations in a contextually sensitive way.
3. Demonstrate awareness of your own gifts, strengths, and growing edges for pastoral ministry.
4. Locate your own particular scholarly and practical interests within the field of pastoral theology and care.

Degree Learning Goal

Theology and Religious Practices (PR): engage in analysis of contemporary religious traditions and institutions in order to assess, design, and perform meaningful leadership practices with sensitivity to contextual realities and relationships ( Master’s Student Handbook , 2016-2017, p. 5).

Readings

Required books:

Doehring, C. (2015). The Practice of Pastoral Care: A Postmodern Approach. Revised and expanded edition. Louisville: Westminster John Knox.

Lartey, E. Y. (2003). In Living Color: An Intercultural Approach to Pastoral Care and Counseling. Second edition. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers. ( Available online here ).

Additional required readings will be available as PDFs or as electronic resources through our library.

Grading