An accessible resource that will enlighten and challenge chaplains and care providers seeking to engage the intersection of physical, social, and emotional health challenges of African Americans that exist within systems of racism, sexism, classism, and homophobia present in the wider United States culture. Dr. Danielle Buhuro’s book is a contemporary collaboration of caregivers, clinical therapists, psychologists, pastors, seminary professors, and CPE Supervisors to offer specific spiritual care strategies and interventions.
Faculty and Friends’ Recommended Books
What does spiritual care look like in a Level I trauma center—a place that is often the center of chaos and violence-induced grief? What is the role of a chaplain when the care receiver is a gang member? Through her first-hand experience, training, and foundation in Scripture, Dr. Danielle Buhuro weaves a narrative of spiritual care that address these questions and invites chaplains, religious leaders, and care providers to examine the systems in the United States that contribute to and escalate gang violence. In a place where seconds matter, where every decision becomes critical, is there room for hope?
There are many factors that influence African American identity formation, including spirituality, racism, and psycho-social development; any conversation on salvation and liberation must address each factor. Identity must be determined by personal worth; not by occupation, economic class, social class, or that which has been forced upon African Americans by the European and American cultures. Dr. Lee H. Butler Jr. engages the question, “Who are we as African Americans?” through lenses of developmental psychology, liberation theology, and African American history.
The expanded second edition of this celebrated text engages an intercultural lens to examine theology, trauma, mental health, culture, self-reflection, research, and practice within the realm of pastoral care. Dr. Carrie Doehring’s work highlights the caregiving relationship and demonstrates how to develop the skill of listening in the care setting through a relational and embodied approach. Chaplains, counselors, religious leaders, and care providers will begin to assess coping strategies and recognize the various ways values and beliefs shape a care receiver’s engagement with loss, violence, and stress.
The impact of trauma on spiritual healing cannot be understated. What changes if religious experiences are the source of trauma? Sacred Wounds contains narratives from a wide range of persons who have had negative religious experiences but does not leave the reader in a place of desolation. Trauma therapist Teresa (Pasquale) Mateus offers healing exercises, true-life examples, and life-giving discussion for anyone suffering because of church hurt. When our wounds are acknowledged and recovered in the community they become ‘sacred’. Sacred Wounds is a journey of naming and healing—a journey that must be done in community of both care seekers and care providers.
What would you find if you traveled to the deepest layers of your human experience? In the pages of Mending Broken, Trauma therapist, Teresa Mateus speaks from personal experience as a trauma survivor and as a therapist who has studied trauma and its impact. Whether you are a survivor of trauma, or working with survivors of trauma and their communities, this book is a necessary and critical reflection in the journey of healing.
The centuries’ old practice of pilgrimage, particularly the Camino de Stantiago, is a physical adventure that seeps deep into the soul—and shakes everything loose. In her third book focused on the intersection of pain and healing, Teresa Mateus chronicles her personal journey on the Camino, where she reconnects with her ancestry and history, explores identity, race, gender, ability, and socio-political location. This creative non-fiction source provides guided rituals and practices for the reader who wishes to engage their own pilgrim’s process in the context of their own life, including their own pain and healing.
The concept of moral injury emerged in the past decade as a way to understand how traumatic levels of moral emotions generate moral anguish experienced by some military service members. Dr. Zachary Moon’s interdisciplinary research highlights the needs for more effective participation of religious communities in the reentry and reintegration process of military service members, and their communities. This book explores the many ways values, beliefs, behaviors, and relationships change over time through one’s military experience—and implores religious leaders and communities to promote practices of physio-psycho-spiritual-social transformation.
Accessible for both religious leaders and laypersons, Dr. Zachary Moon provides resources for individuals and small groups who seek to welcome and respond to the critical well-being of our nation’s veterans and their families. Post-war life can be challenging and coming home from military service is an ongoing journey of reconnection and reintegration that is best practiced within a compassionate community. This resource provides discussion questions and additional resources for ongoing and thoughtful engagement with veterans and their communities of support.
Designed for churches and communities who currently practice a theologically and biblically affirming stance to the LGBTQIA community, Dr. Cody Sanders provides a glossary of terms, national resources to support LGBTQIA youth, and insight and practical advice for ministers and communities. Churches and church leaders are challenged to reflect on the various trials of LGBTQIA youth and the ways the church has contributed to those harms, and to critically engage ways the church might cultivate more affirming practices.
Dr. Cody Sanders argues that theological narratives can operate violently upon the souls of LGBTQ people in ways that make life precarious and, at time, seem unlivable, yet the elevated suicide attempts by LGBTQIA youth have gone largely uninvestigated within theological and religious studies. Through a narrative approach, Sanders guides readers (religious leaders, chaplains, and counselors) to develop constructive methods and practices to support the resilience of queer souls and cultivate communal practices of care.
Microaggressions are subtle slights, insults, or indignities expressed to persons of varied minority statuses. Although they may be unintentional, microaggressions occur on a regular basis in education, the workplace, and yes, in the church and various ministry settings. Dr. Cody Sanders and Angela Yarber, both ordained clergy, introduce ministry leaders to the concept of microaggressions, specifically examining issues of race, gender, and sexuality in the church. As leaders become more aware of microaggressions in their ministerial setting – preaching, religious education, worship, spiritual, and pastoral counseling – this book seeks to equip communities with tools to cultivate stronger and more welcoming faith communities.
Leading African American Buddhist teachers engage the question: “What does it mean to be Black and Buddhist?” In this first anthology comprised solely of writings by African-descended Buddhist practitioners, these teachers offer lessons on racism, resilience, spiritual freedom, and the possibility of a truly representative American Buddhism. A deeply thoughtful book for those facing racial discrimination, for all practitioners seeking enriching engagement with the Dharma, and for faith leaders, chaplains, and counselors who are dedicated to inter religious and worldview collaboration.
This book, written with hospital spiritual care providers in mind, investigates how to expand the field and scope of compassion within the hospital context, for the spiritual care and safety of transgender patients. Written by a law-educated pastoral counselor, it advocates for chaplain legal literacy, and explains the consequences of spiritual care providers not knowing more about the law. It explores the current political and legal situation transgender hospital patients find themselves in, and especially how these new policies put transgender people at risk when they are in a hospital setting. Dr. Pamela Ayo Yetunde offers Buddhist-Christian interreligious dialogue methods to promote deeper understanding of how spiritual practices can cultivate empathy for transgender patients.