Creating Resistances: Pastoral Care in a Postcolonial World

Melinda A. McGarrah Sharp, Ph.D. (2010), Vanderbilt University, is Associate Professor of Practical Theology and Pastoral Care at Columbia Theological Seminary. Author of Misunderstanding Stories: Toward a Postcolonial Pastoral Theology (Pickwick, 2013), her work integrates pastoral theology, ethics, and postcolonial theory.

• ContentsAcknowledgementsIllustrationsResistance Is Many Things1 Resourcing Resistances: a Fable2 Joining the Resistance3 Resisting Means Many Things4 Resisting as Pastoral Care5 Guide to the Book6 Invitation to Readers7 Introduction Discussion Questions1 Unlocking Disbeliefs: Moving through “Not Me” Resistances1 Encountering “Not Me” Resistances2 Unlocking Disbeliefs: Resisting Injustices in Everyday Life3 Resistance Movements that Loosen Hinges of Healing in Everyday Life4 Summary and Conclusion5 Chapter 1 Discussion Questions2 Remembering Pasts: Moving through “Not Here” Resistances1 Encountering “Not Here” Resistances2 Re-Membering Past “Not Here” Resistances3 Practicing Resistance Movements: Role Playing Role Playing4 Inviting “The Living Me” Here (without the Sugar-Coating)5 Chapter 2 Discussion Questions3 Re-Storying Impassable Futures: Moving through “Not Now” Resistances1 Encountering “Not Now” Resistances: Adjudicating Possibilities, Legislating Futures2 Re-Storying Impassable Futures3 Pastoral Care as Resistance That Restores Possibilities and Re-Stories Dreams4 Chapter 3 Discussion Questions4 Amplifying Phoenix Poets: Moving through “Not Relevant” Resistances1 Confronting “Not Relevant” Resistances2 Vulnerabilities and Values of Resisting as Pastoral Care3 Learning That Resistance Movements Create Dangerously4 Moving in Search of the Phoenix Poet (or, a Necessarily Fragmentary Conclusion)5 Chapter 4 Discussion Questions5 Crossing Borders with Healthy Boundaries: Moving through “Not Possible” Resistances1 I Am the Resistance2 Border Crossing without Healthy Boundaries: Confronting “Not Possible” Resistances3 Ethics Conundrums in an Intercultural Paradigm of Pastoral Care4 Postcolonializing Ethics in Intercultural Pastoral Care: Soul Work5 Learning Creative Possibilities6 Making Resistance as Prophetic Pastoral Care7 Conclusion8 Chapter 5 Discussion QuestionsWidening the Scope: Seven Contributions and Connections to Pastoral and Practical1 Pastoral Care Begins with a Question: “What Are You Going through?”2 Resisting in Pastoral Care and Pastoral Theology: a Brief Historical Trajectory3 Multiple Methodological Belonging4 Intercultural Paradigm of Pastoral Care5 Postcolonializing Pastoral Care: an Ongoing Creative Collaboration6 Living Postcolonializing Processes in Practice(s)7 Widening the Scope More: Decolonizing Theological EducationEpilogueBibliographyIndex of Terms and NamesIndex of PracticesIndex of Biblical Citations