An Introduction to Pastoral Care

From the vantage point of fifty years in the field as chaplain, CPE supervisor, pastoral counselor, pastor, professor, and author, Gerkin crafts an introductory text that summarizes his accumulated wisdom. Gerkin's latest gift to our discipline offers a constructive interpretation of the discipline's history and makes a significant contribution to the translation of the field from psychotherapeutic paradigms toward the emerging pastoral theological models. He acknowledges and creatively bridges the tension between care of the congregation as the community of faith on the one hand, and care of any individual regardless of the particularity of her or his life story on the other.