Listening for the Soul: Pastoral Care and Spiritual Direction

This book explores the relationship between the practices of pastoral care and the practices of spiritual direction with the aim of enabling pastoral caregivers to draw upon the guiding principles, resources, and techniques of spiritual direction within the Christian tradition. With an emphasis on both “practice” and “presence,” the book reclaims the tradition of “soul care” for the pastoral ministry, thereby complementing the medical, or crisis intervention, model of pastoral care with a wellness/growth model of pastoral care.

Listening for the Soul: —Challenges clergy to take seriously the relationship between pastoral care and spiritual direction. —Integrates theological and psychological insights with issues of spiritual life and formation. —Includes a chapter on the spiritual formation of children. —Provides practical guidance for integrating spiritual direction with pastoral care. —Tends to the pastoral caregivers own needs for spiritual deepening. —Includes reflection questions and case studies to enable the text to function on both the individual reader and classroom levels.