Ray S. Anderson, Self-Care: A Theology of Personal Empowerment and Spiritual Healing. Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2000.
Referenced in: Minister Self-Care
LifeandLeadership.com Summary
This book approaches self-care not so much with a view toward preventing burnout, but of being a healthier self overall. Anderson says, “The purpose of this book is to explore the innate capacity of the self for healing and growth through the experiences of devastating and crippling failures, losses, and abuses.” (p. 14) He does this through a theology of humans as bearers of the divine image who must integrate their feeling and thinking dimensions into a healthy self-esteem. He then considers how this sense of self is often damaged through abusive relationships, shame, broken promises, and tragic losses in life. He affirms “the inherent worth of the self as a God-given capacity for health, happiness, and wisdom…as a model of self-fulfillment through God’s grace and love.” (p. 15)
As one would expect from Anderson, a pastoral psychologist, the book reflects the depth of years of theological reflection and the sensitivity of one who has helped others in their own woundedness (several mini-cases presented throughout the book). He counters the hyper-individualism often found in this genre by helping readers see themselves as fundamentally relational. He then addresses how people who hate themselves often hurt others (abuse), how to let go of emotional self-abuse (shame), how to heal irreparable tears in the fabric of friendship (betrayal), how to see the invisible tear in the eye of God (tragedy), and how to progress from mourning’s night to morning’s light (grief). A good way to use this book is to read Part One: Becoming an Empowered Self, and then select sections of Part Two: Healing the Wounded Self, that are most needful.
From the Publisher
Self Care is not just another self-help book. This is a book about the self, and how that self, endowed by God with a divine image, can experience self-worth, emotional health, and a strong and vital faith in the face of life’s inevitable and irrational pain and suffering. Self Care goes beyond recovery from abuse and dysfunction. It is the realization of God’s gift of personal empowerment and spiritual healing.
About the Author
Ray S. Anderson (Ph.D., University of Edinburgh) is senior professor of theology and ministry at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, where he has taught since 1976. He is also a contributing editor to Journal of Psychology and Theology. He has written many books, including Judas and Jesus: Amazing Grace for the Wounded Soul (2004), The Soul of God: A Theological Memoir (2004), Spiritual Caregiving as Secular Sacrament: A Practical Theology for Professional Caregivers (2003), Dancing with Wolves While Feeding the Sheep (2002), The New Age of Soul: Spiritual Wisdom for a New Millennium (2001), The Shape of Practical Theology—Empowering Ministry with Theological Praxis (2001), Living the Spiritually Balanced Life (1998), and The Soul of Ministry: Forming Leaders for God’s People (1997). Anderson’s articles and book reviews have been published in a wide array of scholarly and popular periodicals.
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