Pastoral Care, Health, Healing, and Wholeness in African Contexts

Pastoral theologians from Congo, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, and Zimbabwe address, in this book, the issues of leadership, Ubuntu (community), gender-based violence, political violence, healing, and deliverance faced by pastors and ministers in African contexts today. Drawing on biblical, theological, social scientific, and cultural contextual perspectives, these African Christians offer much needed insights to assist in the care and counseling of persons towards healing, health, and well-being. ""For many years I have drawn on seven African-born pastoral care and counseling colleagues for insights related to the cultural and religious models and practices of pastoral care and counseling needs of African-Americans. In this new book these practical theologians have deliberately turned their attention to the pastoral care needs of the African Christian community, and their focus is on the negative impact that colonialism has had on African traditional caring practices. Moreover, they have targeted the need to apply pastoral care resources to the ongoing current African problems such as HIV/AIDS, domestic violence, and political corruption."" --Edward P. Wimberly, PhD, Professor of Pastoral Care, Special Assistant to the President, Interdenominational Theological Center ""In this timely volume the authors demonstrate that it is impossible to talk about practical theology in an African context without discussing the issues of health, healing, and wholeness. Tapiwa Mucherera and Emmanuel Lartey assemble an impressive, important, and incisive collection of essays that deal with practical theological concerns and serve to illuminate the African experience. The essays speak to each other in ways that will greatly enhance the teaching, study, and practice of contextual pastoral care and counseling with a focus on Africa and the African Diaspora experiences."" --J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu, PhD, Baeta-Grau Professor of Contemporary African Christianity and Pentecostal Theology, Trinity Theological Seminary, Ghana Tapiwa N. Mucherera is Professor of Pastoral Care and Counseling, Asbury Theological Seminary, and the author of three books: Glimmers of Hope (2013), Meet me at the Palaver (2009), Pastoral Care from a Third World Perspective (2001). Emmanuel Y. Lartey is the L. Bevel Jones III Professor of Pastoral Theology, Care and Counseling in the Candler School of Theology at Emory University. He is the author of In Living Color: An Intercultural Approach to Pastoral Care and Counseling (2003).