The nine chapters in this book, along with a critical introduction, address complex theological issues relating to structural inequalities of our society, exacerbated by the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Pastoral theology as an academic discipline is not a value-free enterprise. This book strives to speak against all forms of injustice and to advocate for those who suffer under existing structural inequalities because such a liberative and social transformative task constitutes the fundamental work of pastoral theology. Each chapter in this book analyses how private problems of individuals are occurring within the immediate world of experience with public issues historically, socially, and politically. As a whole, this book addresses racial injustice, ableism, foster family care, and issues faced by Christian churches during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Pastoral Theology.
Introduction 1. Justice Matters: Spiritual Care and Pastoral Theological Imaginations in Times of the COVID-19 Pandemic Constructive Pastoral Theology in Times of Pandemic and Racial Injustice 2. A Pastoral Theology of Dwelling: Political Belonging in the Face of a Pandemic, Racism, and the Anthropocene Age 3. Wired for Fear: Recognizing and Countering Implicit Bias in the Brain African American and Asian American Pastoral Theological Imaginations 4. A Pandemic of Mistreatment: Theories, Practices, and Convergences in Womanist Clinical Pastoral Theology and Black Maternal Healthcare During COVID-19 5. Can America be Saved? A Pastoral Response to Racism and COVID-19 and an Appeal for Dreams, Visions, and Imagination 6. When Xenophobia Spreads Like a Plague: A Critical Pastoral Theological Reflection on Anti-Asian Racism During the COVID-19 Pandemic 7. From the Yellow Peril to the Model Minority and Back Again: Unraveling the Orientalist Representations of Asian Americans in the Age of COVID-19 Pastoral Theological Imaginations for Persons with Disability and Foster Family 8. The ‘Reopen Churches’ Conversation: Disabilities and the Margins 9. Even More Tenuous Connections: A Pastoral Theological Analysis of Foster Care During COVID-19 Pastoral Theological Imagination in Ghana 10. Christianity and the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Pastoral and Theological Reflection from the Ghanaian Context
Kyungsig Samuel Lee is Edna & Lowell Craig Professor of Practical Theology, Spiritual Care, and Counselling at Claremont School of Theology, USA, and a leading Asian American pastoral theologian; former President of the Society for Pastoral Theology and Co-Editor of the Journal of Pastoral Theology (2017–2021); and the author of many articles on the topics of spiritual care in multicultural contexts. Danjuma G. Gibson is Professor of Pastoral Theology, Care, and Counseling at Calvin Theological Seminary, USA, and a licensed psychotherapist. In addition to examining spiritual autobiography and the impact of cultural trauma on individuals and groups, his current research examines the intersection of urban transformation, black religious experience, social psychology, and economics.
