Fall 2005/Pasadena
CN535
Bridger

CN535: GRIEF, LOSS, DEATH AND DYING. Francis Bridger.


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.)

*Course Reader.

*Ainsworth-Smith, Ian and Peter Speck. Letting Go. London: SPCK 1982.

*Anderson, Ray S. Theology of Death and Dying. New York: Basil Blackwell & Sons, 1986.

*Bridger, Francis. Twenty-three Days: A Story of Love, Death and God. London: Darton, Longman & Todd, 2004.

Davidson, Glen. Understanding Mourning. Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1984.

Lester, Andrew. Hope in Pastoral Care and Counseling. Louisville: Westminster, 1995.

Sittser, Gerald. A Grace Disguised. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996.

Soelle, Dorothy. Suffering. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1975.

Viorst, Judith. Necessary Losses. New York: Fawcett, 1986.

RECOMMENDED READING: A broad bibliography is in the syllabus.

ASSIGNMENTS:
  1. Attendance at all classes and completion of preparation and tasks for classes (essential but ungraded).

  2. Participation in a group presentation in class (essential but ungraded).

  3. Completion of a substantial written case study in pastoral practice (50%).

  4. A theological reflection on a theme arising from this course (50%).

PREREQUISITES: None.

RELATIONSHIP TO CURRICULUM: Meets the MDiv core requirement in Pastoral Counseling (MIN 5).

FINAL EXAMINATION: None.