Pastoral Care and Counseling addresses the critique that pastoral care is indistinguishable from secular psychotherapy by placing a person's relationship to God at the center of pastoral care. Each person is created in the Image of God (dignity) and has a purpose (vocation), but people face social problems such as poverty or discrimination that limit this expression. This book shows how ministers can care for systems, arenas such as health care, education, and employment. Even traumatic events such as abuse and suicide are linked with social factors like unemployment, so understanding the impact of systems on pastoral care is an essential part of ministry in the twenty-first century. This book combines theological reflection, psychological insights, social science research, and accessible case studies to provide an indispensable introductory text for seminary students and experienced ministers alike. The book shows how human life is a journey lived out in relationship to God. Each chapter tells a compelling story, whether adult survivors of abuse, suicide, intimate partner violence, poverty, racial reconciliation, dementia, and grief, and draws theological conclusions with direct practical importance from the narrative. Students reading this text will have tools to reflect theologically on practices of pastoral care and counseling. Rather than splitting pastoral ministry into subtopics, the Care for Stories, Systems, and Self framework fosters a balanced, wise, and theologically reflective approach to ministry in a variety of settings. † How do we perceive God? Whereas traditional theologians believed that we do so through a rational soul that is distinct from the body, contemporary theologians acknowledge that our consciousness, our awareness of life, and our spiritual connection to the holy are profoundly rooted in our bodily human condition. It is encouraging to see a number of recent books in practical theology that emphasize the importance of how we encounter, practice, and proclaim theology as embodied human souls. One such book is Philip Hensel s Pastoral Care and Counseling, Paulist Press 9780809153909 Helsel masters the adage of show, don t tell as he invites readers into stories of caregiving in contexts that are varied, complicated, and classic. While drawing upon extensive recent literature in the field, he lets the stories convey the basics of wise practice. He includes stories about poverty, the grief of suicide survivors, the trauma of domestic abuse, the suffering of addiction, and the violation of sexual boundaries in the church. He shows how caregivers can help people feel remembered by God in the midst of such daunting struggles, and how congregations can also advocate for necessary social and political change. Offering theological reflection at every turn, Helsel shows how reflective theological practice can undergird a faithful pastoral ministry. Pausing to reflect on the mystery of pastoral care with a not knowing attitude toward the experience of another, he demonstrates, allows caregivers to connect more deeply with God and with each other. Christian Century, October 17, 2019 --The Christian Century, October 17, 2019 Philip Browning Helsel is a board-certified chaplain and ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church USA who is associate professor of pastoral care at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Having taught previously at Boston College's School for Theology and Ministry, he has more than a decade of experience in counseling, chaplaincy, and congregational ministry. He is passionate about fostering deeper pastoral care that is empowering and destigmatizing.