A Womanist Pastoral Theology against Intimate and Cultural Violence

This book is about Black women's search for relationships and encounters that support healing from intimate and cultural violence. Narratives provide an ethnographic snapshot of this violence, while raising concerns over whether or not existing paradigms for pastoral care and counseling are congruent with how many Black women approach healing. A Womanist Pastoral Theology Against Intimate and Cultural Violence is about Black women's search for relationships and encounters that support healing from intimate and cultural violence. The text is shaped around hearing Black women who teach readers that self-recovery from childhood sexual abuse, incest, molestation, rape, and partner violence isn't just about the offense. It is also about recovering from a culture that normalizes violence against Black women in a particular way. Firsthand narratives provide an ethnographic snapshot of how women encounter intimate violence, while the text also raises concerns over dominant existing care paradigms in relation to how Black women approach healing. Major emphasis is placed on the role of interrogative spirituality as a resource in healing from the traumas of intimate and cultural violence. Womanist Pastoral theology and Self Psychology inform recommendations for congregation-based communal support, and pastoral psychotherapeutic options for care Front Matter....Pages i-xii Introduction....Pages 1-23 I Can Speak (the Unspeakable) for Myself....Pages 25-63 Navigating the Hostile Terrain of Intimate and Cultural Violence....Pages 65-91 A God I Recognize....Pages 93-123 WomanistCare: Reshaping Images and Paradigms for Care....Pages 125-147 Womanist Pastoral Counseling: Clinical Considerations....Pages 149-173 Conclusion....Pages 175-177 Back Matter....Pages 179-212