In this dissertation, I present the research findings of my interviews conducted with twenty Christian adoptive couples. I explore the narratives of their adoptive parenting experiences, primarily focusing on the ways that adopting children affects the parents' spirituality and theological understandings. Furthermore, I investigate adoptive parenthood as a spiritually challenging and formative experience. In this study, the broader descriptive notion of "narrative" is utilized as a hermeneutical approach that crosses disciplines. The primary lenses through which I view the adoption stories include canonical narrative theology and adoption literature from the social sciences in addition to narrative psychology. I delineate and discuss four central categories that emerge from the raw narrative data by means of grounded theory, including the following: (1) systemic evil that militates against adoption, (2) divine initiative and love, (3) spiritual struggles, and (4) faithful human response. Finally, I suggest pastoral theological reconstructions of adoptive parenthood as well as implications for pastoral theology, pastoral care and counseling, and the practice of ministry.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TCU/oai:etd.tcu.edu:etd-03212011-163416 |
| Date | 21 March 2011 |
| Creators | Fraser, Ryan Noel |
| Contributors | Nancy J. Gorsuch |
| Publisher | Texas Christian University |
| Source Sets | Texas Christian University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.tcu.edu/etdfiles/available/etd-03212011-163416/ |
| 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 TCU 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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