Converging Horizons

This collection of essays considers topics in pastoral theology, pastoral care and counseling, pastoral leadership, and social work, and attends to challenges and opportunities pertaining to the support and care of persons in need. Of interest to ministers, chaplains, pastoral counselors, and social workers, these essays focus particularly on human experiences, needs, or concerns that relate to matters of mental health and religious faith or spirituality. Converging Horizons demonstrates approaches to integrative work that draws on multiple fields of theory and practice in service to the goal of providing a range of caregivers with ways to both conceptualize and engage their important work. ""Cole, dually trained as a pastoral theologian and a social worker, has recently accepted an academic post in a school of social work after having served as academic dean of a theological seminary. He is, therefore, uniquely qualified to offer insights on the converging horizons of religion, psychology, and caregiving. This book is a gift to all those interested in the work of caring for persons and groups."" --Nathan Carlin, University of Texas Medical School, Houston, TX ""Converging Horizons offers a compelling witness not only to the vast range of subject matter of interest to pastoral theologians but to the generous expanse of Allan Cole's mind in addressing it. In this collection of essays he accomplishes the impossible, at once offering a sweeping overview of a field of study that defies simple definition while attending with unparalleled sensitivity to the plights of ordinary individuals weary from loss and grief. This book will find its place not only in survey courses in pastoral care and social work but in doctoral seminars on the history and methods of pastoral theology."" --Robert Dykstra, Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, NJ Allan Hugh Cole Jr. is Professor and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the School of Social Work at The University of Texas at Austin. He is the author or editor of ten books.