DESCRIPTION: The nature of human suffering, the problem of theodicy, the meaning of pain, the mystery of healing, and the discovery of hope will be theological and experiential themes central to the course. Grief, pain, loss, separation, death and dying--the major crises of life--will be explored experientially, psychologically and culturally. The focus will be on personal growth as the preparation for pastoral presence, care-giving and counseling.

LEARNING OUTCOMES: Upon completion of this course, the participants will have (1) encountered the reality of their mortality; (2) reflected deeply on the need for thoughtful completion of life pilgrimage; (3) articulated the multiple processes of grieving loss, encountering death, supporting the bereaved; and (4) deepened skills in empathy and embodying incarnational presence.

RELEVANCE FOR MINISTRY: The major opportunities for pastoral care emerge from loss, pain, grief, death and the encounter with dying, support in crisis and loss, and offering a constructive theology of suffering that faces the problem of theodicy in pastoral theology.

COURSE FORMAT: The course offers 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 therapy. The class will meet once a week for a three-hour session.

REQUIRED READING (*the first three and the last are for purchase):

*Albom, Mitch. Tuesdays with Morrie. New York: Doubleday, 1997.

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

*Becker, Ernest. The Denial of Death. New York: Free Press, 1973

Cobb, John. Matters of Life and Death. Louisville: Westminster/John Knox, 1991.

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

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

Lewis, C. S. A Grief Observed. New York: Seabury Press, 1963.

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

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

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

*Wolterstoff, Nicholas. Lament for a Son. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1987.

1. 1500 pages reading minimum

2. Class participation in lectures and experiential processes

3. A personal self-expression in journaling, composition, poetry, art, photography, sculpture

4. A written project of a chosen genre--a biblical, philosophical or theological paper on a specific theme from this area of concentration