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Pastoral Care and Liberation: Exploring the Connections

Awarded Grant
Fuller, Leanna
Pittsburgh Theological Seminary
Theological School
2017

Learning Abstract :
This fellowship project taught me that students are eager to explore the connections between liberation and pastoral care, and to imagine ways in which their own pastoral care practices might be more closely joined with practices of justice-making. However, I also learned that most students need certain kinds of pedagogical support to help them make these connections. First, students need a classroom environment that is safe enough to risk being vulnerable, but not so "safe" that students cannot challenge each other or discuss difficult topics. Additionally, students need multiple opportunities to practice skills, such as imagining how they might embody particular theological commitments through their pastoral care in specific situations. Ultimately, this project leads me to ask deeper questions about how my institutional context might become more hospitable to the types of conversations I hoped to foster in this particular course.
Wabash Center