Decolonizing Theologies of Care

3 credits · Divinity School

The theology and practice of pastoral care is only beginning to grapple fully with its colonial roots. This course will examine critically the continuing implications of colonialism's infused approaches through the lens of contemporary critiques and indigenous, cultural, ritual, local, ancestral practices of healing. At the core of the course is the importance of the understanding of pastoral, spiritual, chaplaincy, therapeutic, soul care as communal and sacred. In this conceptualizing of theology and care, the psychological and the spiritual are intertwined and inextricably tied; furthermore, to serve in a caring role is not a job but a response to the community's need for maintaining, and restoring, wholeness and harmony of the community because the community has called forth this role. Finally, decolonized theology and care recognizes that we exist in socio-political contexts that are affect the well being of the community, and decolonized approaches must take this into account in is practice of care. Thus, decolonizing care is a form of resistance to the destructive effects of colonialism. [3] Ms. Sheppard