Pastoral Theology For Public Ministry

For seminaries, those involved in lay and ordained ministries
* Part of a growing conversation about the roles of ordained ministry
* Taps into an increasing interest in the Church’s public presence in ministries like Ashes to Go

What does it mean to be engaged in Christian ministry in a shifting spiritual and religious landscape? Stephen Burns invites readers to think anew about the distinctiveness of public practices of pastoral presence. Rather than narrowly defining pastoral care and pastoral theology (pastoral counseling, preaching, youth groups, visits to elders, etc.) and theological academic categories (history, pastoral theology, liturgy, ethics, and contemporary sociology), he argues for a new imagination and practice of pastoral presence – a presence that is representative, public, integrated, and expansive.

For seminary introductory pastoral care and pastoral theology courses; those practicing Christian ministry; those seeking to understand more about what clergy and lay ministers do