Description: Pastoral care in the Northern hemisphere has focused traditionally on the well-being of individuals, and has tended to ignore the social order of which they are a part. In this pioneering book, Stephen Pattison draws on the methods and insights of Latin American liberation theology in order to challenge such narrow individualism, which is blind to matters of inequality and injustice that engender and perpetuate avoidable human suffering. A new vision of socially and politically aware pastoral care is presented as central to developing human potential.
Brief description: Stephen Pattison is Professor of Religion, Ethics, and Practice and H. G. Wood Professor of Theology at the University of Birmingham. His latest books are The Challenge of Practical Theology (2007), Seeing Things: Deepening Relations with Visual Artefacts (2007) and Saving Face: Enfacement, Shame, Theology (2013).
Review Quotes: "Stephen Pattison has performed an important task by raising so sharply important issues for all engaged in pastorcal care, issues which will not go away. This is a book to be read and discussed." --Theology