Professional Spiritual and Pastoral Care: A Practical Clergy and Chaplain's Handbook

I had been searching for a textbook to support an Introduction to Chaplaincy course that I was asked to create for a nearby seminary. Following several searches I found this book on Amazon and ordered it. I could not be more pleased with the book. Each of the thirty-three chapters is written by an experienced practitioner in that particular field with links to resources and further readings at the end. The entire book has a useful topical index, though a general bibliography would also have been a nice addition. The book is well organized, beginning with theological foundations and expanding into practical spiritual care skills and specific populations receiving pastoral care.The final part presents the structure of professional chaplaincy as it is increasingly found in healthcare settings. While the book is tilted in the direction of healthcare chaplaincy, fully 2/3 of the content is easily applicable to other settings. I recommend this for anyone considering or just starting chaplaincy as well as for anyone seeking a refresher or one volume overview of professional chaplaincy as envisioned by the Association of Professional Chaplains.

Very good comprehensive book on Pastoral Care. I give it 5 stars for being informative. I lowered my overall review to 4 stars because this book had a lot of opinion and suggestions as part of the text. Even though I appreciate a model and ideas for further development of the field I found those opinion based pieces not be to so useful and excessive. Sometimes entire sections were ideas...if you are already in the pastoral care field and are trying to find new ways and ideas to provide care these sections would be useful. As a student learning I found reading those parts tedious and irrelevant.

A powerful resource for the Christian Chaplain. Roberts explores the essential qualities, responsibilities, and priorities of chaplaincy and discriminates between effective and defective approaches.

Great resource for my ministry - the articles themselves are excellent, and the addition of bibliographic info on source materials is terrific! Seminarians and CPE students - this is a must-have that I wasn't aware of!

Great book! Received in perfect condition! I love the book itself and the content. If your going into chaplaincy I recommend it!

If you need to learn about the current academic state of Pastoral/Spiritual Care then this is THE book you need to read. It is the result of years of research and praxis by professional Chaplains and Clergy who work in the field. Now it is not a religious prolemic and there is no 'doctrine' other than that people are the focus of spiritual and pastoral care, rather than the Minister's agenda. I have worked with Parishes, the Military and in Trauma for thirty years and I wish that this type of book was available when I began serving people.

This is a wonderful resource with detailed, practical information. I use it often to inform the pastoral care I strive to provide. Easy to read and can be read in parts and pieces, depending on the specific need.

The book is excellent. I have just completed 4 units of CPE (Clinical Pastoral Educatiob) and wish that this book was part of the program. It offers good insights and practical suggestions form ministry. I like the use of story which always helps to integrate head knowledge with experience. A good tool for chaplains.