Yale University Library Research Guides: Practical Theology: Introduction

Subject Headings

Listening and Caring Skills: A Guide for Pastors, Counselors, and Small Groups by John Savage Offers eleven specific and teachable listening skills for improving relationships among those who do ministry in small-group settings or when offering counsel to others.
The Concise Guide for Congregational Care by Melissa Collier Gepford A book provides that words of scripture and prayer, along with important information to share with people in hospitals, care centers, and homes. The full texts of scripture, poetry, and prayers are included.
Lay Pastoral Care: A Narrative Approach by Joretta L. Marshall (Editor); Christie Cozad Neuger Using a model grounded in narrative and collaborative theories, this book describe key ideas and practices that inform lay care companioning. They also provide comprehensive curricular suggestions for training lay companions.

Conundrums in Practical Theology by Joyce Ann Mercer (Editor); Bonnie Miller-McLemore (Editor) Tackles complex issues in relation to practical theology, including racism, hierarchy of theory over practice, devaluation of small case studies, risks of interdisciplinarity to scholarly identity, inequities between Christian traditions, unreflective Christian-centrism, and tensions between the production of scholarship and public service.
For Life Abundant: Practical Theology, Theological Education, and Christian Ministry by Dorothy C. Bass (Editor); Craig Dykstra (Editor) Discusses the significance of practical theology in the classroom, in the wider academy, and in actual ministry settings.
The Shape of Practical Theology: Empowering Ministry with Theological Praxis by Ray S. Anderson Reflects theologically and practically on preaching, worship, ethics, social justice, therapy, family, homosexuality, burnout in ministry, reconciliation in relationships and theological education itself.
Developing a Public Faith: New Directions in Practical Theology by Richard Osmer (Editor); Friedrich Schweitzer (Editor) Each essay explores faith development theory with a particular interest with aspects of practical theology.

The Blackwell Reader in Pastoral and Practical Theology by Stephen Pattison (Editor); John Patton; James Woodward (Editor) Provides an overview of pastoral and practical theology in the form of articles and extracts with commentary. Presents pastoral and practical theology within a theoretical framework. Contains classic readings together with newly commissioned articles.
The Wiley Blackwell Reader in Practical Theology by Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore (Editor) Contains a general introduction to practical theology, featuring classic and pioneering essays that address the history, methods, issues, and exemplary illustrations of research, teaching, and practice.

The Practice of Pastoral Care: A Postmodern Approach (Online) by Carrie Doehring Encourages counselors to view their ministry through a trifocal lens that incorporates premodern, modern, and postmodern approaches to religious and psychological knowledge.
Pastoral Care: Telling the Stories of Our Lives by Karen Scheib Focuses on listening and "restorying" practices occurring in the context and setting of congregations. By coauthoring narratives that promote healing and growth in love, pastoral caregivers become cocreators and companions who help others revise and construct life-stories reshaped by the grace of God.
Mighty Stories, Dangerous Rituals: Weaving Together the Human and the Divine (Online) by Herbert Anderson, Edward Foley Argues that when stories and rituals work together, they have the potential to help us make these connections beyond ourselves. Ministers, worship leaders, and pastoral caregivers can use this approach to storytelling and ritual to find ways to bring together worship and pastoral care, diminishing fragmentation and fostering coherence in their religious communities.