Pastoral Care and Hermeneutics

The basic idea of this book derives from Paul Ricoeurs view that since texts and meaningful human actions are sufficiently similar methods and theories developed for interpreting texts may also be used for interpreting human actions. Donald Capps applies this view to the broad range of pastoral actions and in the process formulates a unique and helpful hermeneutical model of pastoral care. Capps maintains that such a model can be extremely useful for understanding what a particular pastoral action means to those involved in it and for evaluating its effects on these persons.