Encounters for Change

Description: Weaving together insights from social psychology, theology, and experiences of interfaith religious leaders, Dagmar Grefe develops practical strategies that support interreligious contact at a grassroots level. She shows that by working together, religious communities can more effectively address global and local problems that all people face: poverty, environmental destruction, and armed conflict. Grefe describes interreligious cooperation at work in local communities. She develops tools that equip religious leaders with the interreligious competence needed for spiritual care and counseling with individual persons in crisis. Cooperation is not only effective in the care for communities and persons in crisis, it also heals distant and strained interreligious relationships. In the process of working together, perceptions of each other can transform. Endorsements: ""Dagmar Grefe's well-crafted book is exactly what clinical pastoral education needs: searching theory connected closely to clinical insight. She introduces us to powerful insights from social psychology that will improve practice and asks her readers to connect with colleagues from all faiths to address local and global problems. To achieve these high goals in one readable book is a gift."" -Jackson Kytle Commissioner, Middle States Association Commission on Higher Education ""In a world that is increasingly becoming the 'global village, ' the ability to understand and appreciate religious differences is crucial. Dr. Grefe's work challenges us to think of creative ways to engage with our neighbors, whether they be in the community or in the institutions in which we work. Her practical approach invites the reader to consider the theoretical framework out of which her ideas emerge, but also the realistic ways in which we all have the ability to change and embrace the 'other.'"" -Bishop Teresa Snorton Presiding Bishop, Christian Methodist Episcopal Church ""Dagmar Grefe's work brings a unique dimension to our notions of healing, because she adds a profound personal history to her professional competence; and she places her work in our most intimate clinical setting (the hospital) within a world interfaith context . . . Her candor about her personal national origins, and the way in which those origins influence her work within America will be treasured by all those who value candor and the acceptance of the amazing complexity of the human enterprise."" -William Cutter Emeritus Steinberg Profesor of Human Relations and Modern Literature Hebrew Union College, Los Angeles Dagmar Grefe's Encounters for Change is an excellent exemplar of pastoral care and pastoral theology at its best. By careful engagement with and drawing upon social psychology's intergroup contact theory, conscientious reflection on theologies of religious pluralism, together with chaplaincy experience and education on the ground in hospital and community, this book brings readers much wisdom for the care of persons and communities in our 21st century global village full as it is with persons participating in a rich variety of religious faiths and traditions. Chaplains engaged regularly in interfaith pastoral care, rabbis, imams, ministers and religious leaders of different religious, cultural and social persuasions, as well as all who realize the need to be faithful to their own faith whilst being respectful and caring for other faithful people, will find much to learn and engage in here. Encounters for Change is a much needed right-on-time text for all caregivers. --Emmanuel Y. Lartey, PhD Candler School of Theology About the Contributor(s): Dagmar Grefe is Manager of Spiritual Care and Clinical Pastoral Education at Children's Hospital Los Angeles and Clinical Assistant Professor at USC Keck School of Medicine.