The study of lived religion is an enterprise which attempts to elucidate how 'ordinary' men and women in all times and places draw on religious behavior, media, and meanings to make sense of themselves and their world. Through the influence of liberation theology and postmodernism, pastoral theologians_like other scholars of religion_have begun more closely to examine the particularity of religious practice that is reflected through the rubric of lived religion. Pastoral Bearings offers up ten studies that exemplify the usefulness of the lived religion paradigm to the field of pastoral theology. The volume presents detailed qualitative research focused on the everyday beliefs and practices of individuals and groups and explores the implications of lived religion for interdisciplinary conversation, intercultural and gender analysis, and congregational studies. Reflecting upon the utility of this approach for pastoral theological research, education, and pastoral care, the studies collected in Pastoral Bearings demonstrate the importance of the study of lived religion.

Leonard Hummel is associate professor of Pastoral Theology and Pastoral Care at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg. Jane F. Maynard is currently serving as Priest in Charge at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Medina, WA. Mary Clark Moschella is professor of Pastoral Care and Counseling at Yale Divinity School.

1 Dedication2 Table of Contents3 AcknowledgmentsChapter 4 1. Pastoral Bearings: Lived Religion and Pastoral TheologyPart 5 I. Congregations, Bodies, and TheologyChapter 6 2. Theological Reflection and Theories of Practice: Rethinking Normative Memory as if Bodies MatterChapter 7 3. Weaving a Communal Narrative: Agape United Methodist ChurchChapter 8 4. Culture Coded Care: Ecclesial Beliefs and Practices in Response to IllnessChapter 9 5. Homeless in Seattle: A Lived Religion of HospitalityPart 10 II. Gender Positive Care: Re-writing Dis/ability, Denominational History and Unchurched ReligionChapter 11 6. Resisting Stares and StereotypesAffirming LifeChapter 12 7. Baptist Clergywomen's Narratives: Reinterpreting the Southern Baptist Convention SchismChapter 13 8. "Spiritual But Not Religious"How Small Groups in America Redefine ReligionPart 14 III. Intercultural NuanceChapter 15 9. Lively Choruses: Relational Dance with GodChapter 16 10. Pastoral Care and Counseling in Independent Evangelical Charismatic Churches in Ghana: A Barthian Theological PerspectiveChapter 17 11. Religion in Thailand: Pastoral Theological Reflection from the Perspective of Thai Buddhist Monks18 Select Bibliography19 About the Authors20 Index