Building King's Beloved Community
Foundations for Pastoral Care and Counseling with the Oppressed
Foreword by Howard Clinebell
Imprint: Wipf and Stock
How does oppression manifest itself in the structures and systems of society? What are the psychological and theological issues surrounding the phenomena of a tortured self-identity and diminished self-esteem? Through the study of King's life and witness, Building King's Beloved Community seeks to inspire and suggest a prophetic practice that will broaden and inform the paradigm for pastoral caregiving in responding to the needs of oppressed people in any context--especially where Christianity is practiced.
Donald M. Chinula is an associate professor in the Department of Religion and Philosophy at Stillman College, Tuscaloosa, Alabama. He holds an MA and a PhD from the School of Theology at Claremont, an MDiv from the Interdenominational Theological Center, a JD from the University of Minnesota Law School, and an LLM from the Columbia University School of Law.
"In these pages you'll find a carefully researched overview of many of King's key ideas--concepts that challenge all privatized approaches to pastoral care, counseling, and ministry. You'll see how these approaches reflect the middle-class, white, male, Western origins of the modern pastoral care and counseling movement. And you'll find cogent evidence that all hyperindividualistic, privatized models are largely irrelevant to the life struggles and pain of the vast majority of the human family who are deeply wounded by injustice, violence, poverty, and social oppression."
--Howard Clinebell, from the Foreword
"The work of Chinula is an excellent contribution . . . Grounded firmly in King's understanding of the 'Beloved Community' and how God bestows value and worth to persons, he builds a model of pastoral care that analyzes social systems and oppressive structures. Further, the model builds self-esteem and self-worth, and fosters identity of those who are oppressed."
--Edward P. Wimberly, Jarena Lee Professor of Pastoral Care and Counseling, Interdenominational Theological Seminary, Atlanta, Georgia