Shared Wisdom

"Shared Wisdom, over the years, has proven to be an indispensable resource for chaplains, spiritual care providers, therapists, and clinical pastoral education educators. Using case study as a pedagogical method to highlight the intersubjective nature of caring relationships, this new and updated edition offers the reader a fuller and more nuanced understanding of who we are, who others are, who God is, and the shared wisdom that arises in spiritual care relationships. It is an essential text for theological schools preparing students for the reflective practice of spiritual care within the context of complex interreligious realities." --Dr. Su Yon Pak, vice president of academic affairs and dean, Union Theological Seminary, and coauthor of Sisters in Mourning: Daughters Reflecting on Care, Loss, and Meaning "This updated edition is a must-read for all spiritual care practitioners as they strive to provide effective, relevant, quality care. Through case studies, Pamela Cooper-White identifies common themes and dynamics in today's world (for example, gender and racial equity, religious pluralism) that require the caregiver's commitment to crafting healthy responses through self-reflection, self-monitoring, and self-analysis." --Bishop Teresa E. Snorton, BCC, ACPE (retired); Ecumenical and Program Development Officer, The CME Church; and coeditor of Women Out of Order: Risking Change and Creating Care in a Multicultural World "This book is a must-read to understand in-depth and work with the shared wisdom generated in therapeutic relationships and in spiritual care in particular. Pamela Cooper-White has birthed an improved classic: gracefully crafted with compelling insight and generous guidance for competent praxis." --Daniel S. Schipani, author of Spiritual Care in Our Multifaith World: A Primer on Practice and Theory "With twenty years of additional scholarship and fresh insight, Pamela Cooper-White provides helpers of all kinds with new ways of thinking about the unconscious dynamics of the therapeutic relationship. Her insight is especially keen regarding unconscious enactments by therapists, chaplains, and spiritual caregivers who may view their behavior toward clients simply as care and empathy, failing to fully appreciate the narcissism and grandiosity inherent in the role of the helper. For all who find themselves in the role of the one who helps, read and take heed. There is valuable advice in the pages of this new volume." --Mary Ragan, PhD, LCSW, senior staff therapist at Psychotherapy and Spirituality Institute, New York City "In her revised and expanded edition, Pamela Cooper-White has given us a window into how the evolving nature of pastoral care and counseling is shaped by cultural shifts, such as attending to religious experiences beyond Christianity and heteronormativity, but also how the theologian is changed by deep pastoral listening and theological reflection. And we witness this shift throughout the work in the nuanced and substantive ways she engages theory and lived experiences. The expanded version has the depth we have come to appreciate from Cooper-White and challenges us anew to further our understanding and vision of pastoral care and counseling. Required reading for serious students and colleagues." --Phillis Isabella Sheppard, E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Chair of Religion, Psychology, and Culture, and executive director of the James Lawson Institute for the Research and Study of Nonviolent Movements, Vanderbilt University