A Womanist Pastoral Theology Against Intimate and Cultural Violence

A Womanist Pastoral Theology Against Intimate and Cultural Violence is about Black women's search for relationships and encounters that support healing from intimate and cultural violence. The text is shaped around hearing Black women who teach readers that self-recovery from childhood sexual abuse, incest, molestation, rape, and partner violence isn't just about the offense. It is also about recovering from a culture that normalizes violence against Black women in a particular way. Firsthand narratives provide an ethnographic snapshot of how women encounter intimate violence, while the text also raises concerns over dominant existing care paradigms in relation to how Black women approach healing. Major emphasis is placed on the role of interrogative spirituality as a resource in healing from the traumas of intimate and cultural violence. Womanist Pastoral theology and Self Psychology inform recommendations for congregation-based communal support, and pastoral psychotherapeutic options for care.

Stephanie M. Crumpton is Assistant Professor of Practical Theology at Lancaster Theological Seminary, USA. She is a member of the Society for Pastoral Theology and an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ denomination.

Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. A Black Feminist/Womanist Sociohistoric Perspective
3. Self Psychology on Intimate and Cultural Violence
4. Womanist God Talk
5. The Road Ahead
PART I: I CAN SPEAK FOR MYSELF
6. 'Rori'
7. 'Eliza'
8. 'Cirene'
9. 'Tamara'
10. 'Camille'
11. Reflecting on Experience
PART II: NAVIGATING THE HOSTILE TERRAIN OF INTIMATE AND CULTURAL VIOLENCE
12. Developmental Implications of Intimate Violence
13. Othermothers
14. Sisterfriends
15. Cultural Craftswomen
PART III: A GOD I RECOGNIZE
16. Interrogation
17. A Reconstructed Spirituality
18. Enfleshing Power
19. Dealing with Defilement
PART IV: WOMANISTCARE: RESHAPING IMAGES AND PARADIGMS FOR CARE
20. A Working Image of WomanistCare
21. Healing Through Communal Ritual
22. Ritual, Power and Abuse
PART V: WOMANIST PASTORAL COUNSELING: CLINICAL CONSIDERATIONS
23. Recognizing Traumatic Sequelae
24. Traumatic Transference
25. Shame
26. Empathic Work with Trauma and Shame
27. Spirituality as a Therapeutic Resource
28. Conclusion