In this dissertation, I argue that pastoral theologians must better understand crises of intercultural misunderstanding and help repair them. Pastoral theologians study human suffering and fulfillment in relation to care-giving practices. Most pastoral theologians use interdisciplinary methods to understand intrapsychic and interpersonal aspects of human suffering and fulfillment without considering cultural differences. I use theology, psychology, and postcolonial theory to examine case studies of intercultural misunderstanding. I use postcolonial theorists to show that talk about culture can remain fairly abstract if we ignore the systemic and global violence that colonialism instituted in our ways of thinking and relating. I develop a postcolonial theory of culture that remains committed to what pastoral theology has always done best: meaningfully considering the nature of care for persons and communities.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VANDERBILT/oai:VANDERBILTETD:etd-03312010-194040 |
| Date | 16 April 2010 |
| Creators | Sharp, Melinda Ann McGarrah |
| Contributors | Dr. Volney P. Gay |
| Publisher | VANDERBILT |
| Source Sets | Vanderbilt University Theses |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.vanderbilt.edu//available/etd-03312010-194040/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to Vanderbilt University or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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