Dr. Sheila Greeve Davaney
Dr. Larry Kent Graham

Spring 1999

 Course Description

Pastoral care and theological perspectives on representative views of sexuality. Special attention is given to the minister's role: preaching, teaching, pastoral care and relationship to other helping professionals.

1. To enable students to develop positive understanding of human sexuality in the light of religious faith and theology and of modern studies of the person and society.

2. To enable students to develop appropriate pastoral skills for responding to persons with sexual difficulties. Attention will be paid to the knowledge of the pastor's role and to how the student's own attitudes toward sexuality may function to promote or to hinder adequate fulfillment of pastoral responsibilities related to sexual issues.

3. To enable students to develop competence in providing moral guidance to persons in areas of sexual behavior as an expression of ministry.

4. To provide opportunity for students to explore, develop, and evaluate resources for parish education programs on the topic of human sexuality.

A variety of methods will be utilized to accomplish the purposes of this course: lectures, readings, discussions, brief papers, experiential exercises, case studies, and non-print media will be used at appropriate points.

 Requirements

1. Assigned readings

2. Attendance

3. Participation

4. Summary of Journal: A combination of reflections on readings, your self-understanding, and pastoral implications. Due April 19 and May 26, should be no more than 12 pages each.

5. Case Study: Due May 5.

6. Final Paper: Due May 26. Length: 10-15 pages.

Choose a particular area of human sexuality, report significant literature on this area, analyze it theologically and draw implications for pastoral ministry.

 

NOTE: Professional confidentiality will be observed in all aspects of this course, and Colorado's reporting laws will be followed as necessary in pastoral situations.

Reading List

Books (For Purchase)

Crooks, Robert and Karla Baur, eds. Our Sexuality, 6th Edition. ITP, 1996.

Graham, Larry K. Discovering Images of God: Narratives of Care Among Lesbians and Gays. Louisville, Ky.: Westminster John Knox Press, 1997.

Gudorf, Christine. Body, Sex and Pleasure: Reconstructing Christian Sexual Ethics. Cleveland: Pilgrim Press, 1994.

Articles (On Reserve)

Graham, Larry K. "Healing the Congregation," in Pastoral Psychology, Vol. 44, No. 3, January 1996, pp. 165-183.

Lorde, Audre. "Uses of the Erotic" in Sexuality and the Sacred: Sources for Theological Reflection, edited by James B. Nelson and Sandra P. Longfellow. Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1994.

Marshall, Joretta L. "Sexual Identity and Pastoral Concerns: Caring with Women Who Are Developing Lesbian Identities," in Through the Eyes of Women: Insights for Pastoral Care, edited by Jeanne Stevenson Moessner. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1996.

Mixon, Randall. "Pastoral Care of Gay Men," in The Care of Men, edited by Christie Cozad Neuger and James Newton Poling. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1997.

Neuger, Christie Cozad and James Newton Poling. "Introduction" and "Gender and Theology," in The Care of Men, edited by Christie Cozad Neuger and James Newton Poling. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1997.

Poling, James Newton. "Male Violence Against Women and Children," in The Care of Men, edited by Christie Cozad Neuger and James Newton Poling. Nashville: Abingdon press, 1997.

Rich, Adrienne. "Compulsive Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence" in Blood, Bread, and Poetry: Selected Prose 1979-1985. NY: Norton, 1986.

Stinson-Wesley, S. Amelia. "Daughters of Tamar: Pastoral Care for Survivors of Rape," in Through the Eyes of Women: Insights for Pastoral Care, edited by Jeanne Stevenson Moessner. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1996.