Fortress Press

"Shared Wisdom, over the years, has proven to be an indispensable resource for chaplains, spiritual care providers, therapists, and clinical pastoral education educators. Using case study as a pedagogical method to highlight the intersubjective nature of caring relationships, this new and updated edition offers the reader a fuller and more nuanced understanding of who we are, who others are, who God is, and the shared wisdom that arises in spiritual care relationships. It is an essential text for theological schools preparing students for the reflective practice of spiritual care within the context of complex interreligious realities."

"This updated edition is a must-read for all spiritual care practitioners as they strive to provide effective, relevant, quality care. Through case studies, Pamela Cooper-White identifies common themes and dynamics in today's world (for example, gender and racial equity, religious pluralism) that require the caregiver's commitment to crafting healthy responses through self-reflection, self-monitoring, and self-analysis."

"This book is a must-read to understand in-depth and work with the shared wisdom generated in therapeutic relationships and in spiritual care in particular. Pamela Cooper-White has birthed an improved classic: gracefully crafted with compelling insight and generous guidance for competent praxis."

"With twenty years of additional scholarship and fresh insight, Pamela Cooper-White provides helpers of all kinds with new ways of thinking about the unconscious dynamics of the therapeutic relationship. Her insight is especially keen regarding unconscious enactments by therapists, chaplains, and spiritual caregivers who may view their behavior toward clients simply as care and empathy, failing to fully appreciate the narcissism and grandiosity inherent in the role of the helper. For all who find themselves in the role of the one who helps, read and take heed. There is valuable advice in the pages of this new volume."

"In her revised and expanded edition, Pamela Cooper-White has given us a window into how the evolving nature of pastoral care and counseling is shaped by cultural shifts, such as attending to religious experiences beyond Christianity and heteronormativity, but also how the theologian is changed by deep pastoral listening and theological reflection. And we witness this shift throughout the work in the nuanced and substantive ways she engages theory and lived experiences. The expanded version has the depth we have come to appreciate from Cooper-White and challenges us anew to further our understanding and vision of pastoral care and counseling. Required reading for serious students and colleagues."

"Pamela Cooper-White has written a book that everyone in the field of spiritual care needs to read. Her insights help the reader develop essential reflective practices for exploring how their selves interact with the people they care for and the unique ethics of embracing the richness of intersubjectivity in a world filled with diverse identities and points of view. Her theological and spiritual vision lifts up the essential role that spiritual care plays in supporting transformative and healing relationships in a broken world. Shared Wisdom is a gift."

"The twentieth-anniversary revised and expanded edition of Pamela Cooper-White's Shared Wisdom: Use of the Self in Pastoral Care and Counseling adds depth and breadth to an already excellent resource. This volume offers a clear and historically grounded description of the relational model of care, elucidating the way that shared wisdom emerges in and through intersubjective caregiving relationships. Through multicultural case studies and pastoral theological reflection, the author teaches pastoral caregivers how to become aware and make use of the unconscious processes that arise in their caregiving relationships. This edition is enhanced by a greater emphasis on social justice as it relates to healing, as well as increased attention to religious pluralism."