The author defines pastoral theology as "the study of the micro-world of intrapsychic and interpersonal interactions with the tools of theology and the social sciences for the purpose of support and healing. In a typical class or supervisory session, we analyze the words, voice inflection, pace, and gestures of an intimate conversation between two people, looking for clues to the deep structure...

This is the text of 2022 Boyle Lecture. After some acknowledgements, it introduces theological problem suffering nonhuman creatures in natural world as described by evolutionary science. It sets aside neo-Cartesian objection that this should not be considered real. The lecture then considers, and initially rejects, theodicies based on form fall event. An account offered premise Darwinian evolut...

What is it that makes something theological education? The obvious answer for many is that it is the content. That is, it is education that is specifically about theology, about God (or, for some, about the experience of God). It is also possible to suggest that the purpose is definitive of what makes something theological education. After all, is it enough to say that knowledge is sufficient t...

The problem of unclean foods was at the heart of the first great controversy in the early church (Acts 15). Did Gentile believers have to be circumcised and keep the laws of Moses about food? The conclusions of the council of Jerusalem are recorded in Acts, but there is little explanation of the theological reasoning behind the decisions. Commentators therefore tend to regard the decree (Acts 1...

Prospects for Xenotransplantation: Identifying psychosocial and pastoral challenges Jochen Sautermeister, Richard Mathieu, Veronika Bogner Chair for Moral Theology, Catholic Theological Faculty, University Munich,