African American Pastoral Care

"Ed Wimberly's important book links politics and pastoral care, two practices I haven't seen connected very often. Wimberly's book comes at a critical time in the life of theological education and religious practice in America. There is a raging debate afoot within black church culture about the appropriate balance of personal and political construal of the Christian message. This book could advance a much needed approach to a complicated conversation about the kind of pastoral care best suited for people who have known racism, sexism, poverty, and religious abuse. Wimberly's dedication, warmth, intelligence, and charisma will transform this book into a tool for opening closed minds and closing open arguments that do not liberate."--Robert M. Franklin, Presidential Distinguished Professor of Social Ethics, Candler School of Theology, Emory University

It is because pastoral care and counseling facilitate person agency and efficacy (personal, social, and political empowerment and transformation) that African American pastoral care and counseling are inherently political processes, contends Edward Wimberly. In African American Pastoral Care and Counseling: The Politics of Oppression and Empowerment, Wimberly outlines the theological anthropology that undergirds the practices of care and the practices of self as holistic processes. Wimberly shows those who engage in pastoral counseling with African Americans how to navigate around the negative self-images, identities, and stories into which they have been recruited in order to liberate themselves to discern how to best make use of their personal and political agency and efficacy.