Ritual and Pastoral Care

Pastoral counseling can be imbued with a sense of community and of the transcendent; there is no surer way for this to happen than through a vital and self-conscious connection with the worship life of the community. Ritual can resonate to human need, and to this end there is much the ritualist can learn from the psychological insights into human development and personality familiar to those in the field of pastoral care. Drawing on a range of practical concerns and issues in worship life and pastoral care, Elaine Ramshaw shows how ritual can communicate care, and be shaped by care for the individual, society, and the world.