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This book wrestles with quandaries of pastoral ministry in what psychotherapist Mary Pipher calls “the age of overwhelm.” Drawing especially from the wisdom of Jesus’ own teaching and healing ministries as portrayed in the Gospel of Luke, it offers an intimate narrative introduction to pastoral theology for guiding bewildering tasks of pastoral care and counseling. These essays encourage seminarians and ministers to embrace their role as agents of healing by exploring their own debilitating shame and daring to speak what in childhood could not be spoken; by revealing their discoveries to a trusted confidant so as to feel less loathsome or lonely; by attending to even minute individual differences, in self and others, that fuel social isolation; and by believing in those persons who first believed in them.
Robert C. Dykstra, MDiv ’82, PhD ’90, is the Charlotte W. Newcombe Professor of Pastoral Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary, where he has served since 1997. He earned his PhD and MDiv from Princeton Theological Seminary, and his BA from Whitworth University in Spokane, Washington. Before coming to Princeton he taught at the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary as assistant and then associate professor of pastoral theology and congregational care. Dykstra’s academic interests include pastoral care and counseling, psychoanalytic theory, developmental psychology, contemporary issues impacting children and adolescents, human sexuality, pastoral preaching, and the integration of biblical and theological precepts with research in the human sciences. He is on the editorial boards of Pastoral Psychology and theJournal of Childhood and Religion and is cofounder of the annual scholarly conference “Group for New Directions in Pastoral Theology.”
A native of Minnesota, Dykstra is a lifelong member of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and an ordained Presbyterian minister. He served for a number of years as a minister, youth minister, hospital chaplain, and pastoral counselor.
Pastoral Theology, Pastoral Care and Counseling, Psychology of Religion, Developmental Psychology, Pastoral Care with Boys and Men, Sexuality and Gender Studies, Psychoanalysis, William James Studies, Pastoral Aesthetics, Sleep and Dreams
Valor and Vulnerability: Pastoral Explorations of Intimacy, Grief, and Resilience among Boys and Men (co-edited with Ryan LaMothe; Pickwick, 2025)
“Is Life (Still) Worth Living?” Pastoral Psychology, August 2025, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11089-025-01249-9
“Guardians of Childhood, Sentinels of Soul,” Pastoral Psychology, March 2022, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11089-022-01008-0
“The Unedited Self: Fostering Subversive Imagination in Ministry with Boys and Men,” Pastoral Psychology, November 2020, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11089-020-00929-y
Pastor as Person
Pastoral Care and the Life Cycle
Confession and Forgiveness in Pastoral Perspective
Sleep, Surrender, and the Sabbath
Pastoral Care of Men
Sexuality and the Christian Body
The Self in the System
A Sympathetic World: William James for Pastoral Care
