DESCRIPTION: The challenge of ministering to those in pain means that pastoral
practitioners must face for themselves the tensions of living in a world
characterized by suffering while at the same time offering Christian hope. This
course will explore--from a ministry perspective--the nature of human
suffering, the problem of theodicy, the meaning of pain, the mystery of
healing, and the discovery of hope. Grief, pain, loss, separation, death and
dying--the major crises of life--will be explored theologically,
experientially, psychologically and culturally. The focus will be on
preparation for pastoral presence, care-giving and ministry.
COURSE OBJECTIVES/LEARNING OUTCOMES: By the end of the course, participants
will have: (a) considered the significance of sociological and cultural
factors in evaluating contemporary attitudes to death and dying; (b) become
familiar with processes associated with grief and loss; (c) engaged with a
number of central theological issues; (d) reflected on their own experience of
loss as a resource for ministry; (e) begun to develop skills essential to
offering pastoral care to those who have suffered loss.
RELEVANCE FOR MINISTRY: Major opportunities for pastoral care emerge from
loss, pain, grief, death and the encounter with dying. Nothing is more relevant
to pastoral ministry than presence and support in crisis and loss. Effective
pastoral care requires both a pastorally reflective theology and skills that
can handle the tensions of faith and experience in the face of suffering, loss
and death.
COURSE FORMAT: The class will meet once a week for a three-and-a-half-hour
session. The course is both content and process: understanding the nature of
loss experiences, of grieving, of encountering the reality of dying, of
ministry in each of these crises and owning, facing, exploring and
embracing our own losses. Lecture and experiential process will be parts of the
whole experience of correlating theology and pastoral care.
REQUIRED READING: (Students are expected to purchase at least the first four
texts.)