The Practice of Pastoral Care [Book Review]

As pastors are called to walk with God’s people in the valleys of suffering, loss, identity, and joy, we need resources that help us listen before we speak, accompany before we answer, and reflect theologically before we act. Carrie Doehring’s The Practice of Pastoral Care: A Postmodern Approach is a dense, theologically informed, and a practically grounded guide that meets this need with integrity.

Doehring, a pastor and clinician, invites readers into a narrative, relational, and embodied model of pastoral care that resists quick fixes and prioritizes deep, trust-rooted relationships. Rather than offering a set of techniques divorced from context, she frames pastoral care as an ongoing spiritual and interpersonal practice, one that is shaped by scripture, attentive listening, and attunement to cultural and existential contexts.

Listening and Relationship First

One of the most pastoral chapters in the book is the section on embodied listening, where Doehring encourages caregivers to enter into the actual life and story of the person before them.

Pastoral care is not a speech delivered from the pulpit but a conversation lived in the margin of someone’s grief, anxiety, or doubt. In pastoral settings, where hurried schedules and checkboxes often dominate, this reminder to slow down and listen generously is both a challenge and a gift.

A Theologically Reflexive Approach

Doehring integrates interdisciplinary insights from theology, psychology, and cultural studies into her pastoral framework. Rather than compartmentalizing scripture on one side and psychology on the other, she shows pastors how theological reflection and psychological awareness enrich one another.

Pastoral care moves beyond assessment into discernment, attending to the deeper longings and questions that God is already at work in. Again, Doehring’s writing resists simplistic responses and calls pastors to be present with complexity with sensitivity and humility.

Intercultural and Contextual Sensitivity

Doehring’s postmodern approach does not mean relativism but rather situational awareness. She explicitly urges caregivers to understand the cultural, social, and identity contexts shaping each care-seeker’s story, a perspective especially valuable in increasingly diverse congregations. Her emphasis on intercultural care encourages pastors to listen for how faith, ethnicity, family history, and community pressures intersect in the lived experience of those we serve.

Practical Strengths for Ministry

What stands out most for pastoral ministries is Doehring’s balance of theory and praxis. Each chapter offers not only theological depth but practical considerations: reflective exercises, assessments, and narrative engagement tools that can be adapted for parish care conversations. Her integration of psychological awareness with scriptural trust makes this a resource both for study and on-the-ground ministry.

Final Thoughts

Doehring’s The Practice of Pastoral Care is not a quick-read theology text, nor a simplistic counseling manual. In fact, a clear difficulty with the revised edition is that it reads like a doctoral dissertation in one section and then a more practical application text, only to flip-flop again. This actually becomes a distraction throughout the text to the point it takes longer to consume and makes the text feel disjointed. Further, she tackles theological topics that many conservatives may not feel comfortable with and it feels the push for these explanations are very limited creating a “take it or leave it” ideology.” Yet, this should not distract from the importance of the material and need for better pastoral care application.

It is a sober, compassionate, and deeply pastoral invitation into the hard work of being present, an invitation that resonates with any pastor who has ever sat beside someone in grief, wrestled with a parishioner’s faith questions, or sought to bring the hope of Christ into the tangled reality of human life. Reading this book will stretch your heart, sharpen your discernment, and deepen your capacity to offer care that honors both the sacredness of the human story and the redemptive activity of God in Christ.

We give this book a 3.5 stars out of 5.