Spiritual Care in an Age of #BlackLivesMatter: Examining the Spiritual and Prophetic Needs of African Americans in a Violent America

by Danielle J. Buhuro, Chanequa Walker-Barnes (Foreword), Lee H. Butler Jr. (Introduction)

Wednesday, November 9, 2016 is the day that changed America. A Republican business mogul and reality television host who once proclaimed that if women didn't accept the intimate advancements of men, then men were could simply grab these women by a particularly sensitive extremity below their stomachs, snatched the electoral collegiate vote and since then has worked tirelessly on reversing President Barack Obama's progressive policies and pushing immigration legislation backwards. This vital resource guide incorporates the basic understandings of spiritual care with the current social, emotional, existential and spiritual needs of African Americans simply surviving in Trump's violent America. It's one-of-a-kind, offering specific spiritual care strategies and interventions for African Americans dealing with particular physical, social and emotional health challenges in the midst of rising statistics of racism, sexism, classism, and homophobia leading to violence in the United States. Intended for anyone in academia or the helping professions, this comprehensive work benefits those seeking to provide spiritual care to African American hospital patients, counseling clients, church congregants and parishioners, military veterans, or returning service members. The contributors to this anthology are experts in their respective fields who offer a new, refreshing, and energizing perspective on important issues impacting African Americans. "The collective voices of those Dr. Buhuro includes in this important work are powerful and the topics categorically germane to that which concerns Black Lives. Responsibility and the 'Why' of your current engagement, or lack thereof, to the violent and reckless response associated with black bodies, souls, and psyches, will be challenged." --Bridget Piggue, Director of Spiritual Health, Emory University Hospital Midtown "Rev. Danielle Buhuro has assembled a select and excellent group of phenomenal caregivers, clinical therapists, psychologists, pastors, seminary professors, and CPE Supervisors to produce one of the most important resources for spiritual care and pastoral counseling in the twenty-first century." --Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., Senior Pastor Emeritus, Trinity United Church of Christ, Chicago "Every chapter of this book is a love offering for black life thriving, a guide for those who long for emotional and spiritual health and to foster it in others. . . . My only lament is that we had to wait this long for such a thorough offering. Every pastor, every chaplain, every scholar of every discipline who wants to situate their work through the lens of black love and black lives needs this book." --Valerie Bridgeman, Dean and Vice President of Academic Affairs, Associate Professor of Homiletics & Hebrew Bible, Methodist Theological School in Ohio Danielle J. Buhuro is an ACPE Certified Educator/CPE Supervisor at Advocate Aurora South Suburban and Trinity Hospitals at Chicago. She is the author of Is There a Heaven for a "G"? (Resource Publications, 2017).

256 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 17, 2019

Reviews

[Andrew Montgomery · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'll be honest - I did not enjoy this read at all. Not because the content of the book was unhelpful. I just think the book is very poorly titled, and I was frustrated to be reading it in CPE as if it is relevant for clinical chaplaincy. This book is not about 'spiritual care' as that phrase is used in the clinical world of chaplaincy, and this book is not for chaplains, at least in my opinion. It is for church leaders, mostly Black church leaders ministering in Black churches. This book is written about church work, which is fine - that absolutely has its place. But when the discipline of spiritual care/chaplaincy already struggles to separate itself from church work (which I think is absolutely vital if the discipline wants to have any respect at all), books like this unhelpfully further the idea that chaplaincy is just church work outside the church.

I think if this book had just been titled something like 'Church in an Age of #BlackLivesMatter,' it would be an essential read for anybody in church work (or a church at all). The content is thoroughly researched and enlightening for someone like me who has little familiarity with the Black church and various Black cultures. So for that, I'm glad I read it. And, sure, when I walk into a Black patient's room, it is important for me to be aware of their construction of what church is (and what I could be representing if they view me as church in some way, which, many do). Nevertheless, I also know that each person has their own unique relationship with church, so, regardless of how much I know about Black cultures and their general conceptions of church, I still need to practice cultural humility and invite them to teach me about what church (or life, God, spirituality, relationships, etc.) means to them. Ultimately, therefore, this book did not impact the care I provide in a hospital that serves a predominately Black population much at all.

[Jeanne Higgins · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is a collection of essays on the spiritual needs of African Americans. It often comes across as hostile and one-sided. It is the nature of the book. As a white female chaplain, I can provide care to Blacks, but according to the book I won't do it well. That may be true, but the book didn't leave me with hope I can get better.

[Luke Hillier · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this as a part of a unit of CPE, and found it to be a little off-the-mark in that context. I agree (in part) with another reviewer who suggested that this book is most directly written for pastors in predominantly Black contexts rather than chaplains, as many chapters focus more on opportunities for ministry occurring there. The chapters directly related to chaplaincy in the final section were definitely useful, and "A Manifesto: Black Spiritual Care in American Hospitals" is one of the strongest in the collection, highlighting discrepancies in the holistic medical care experience as a result of white supremacy and racism. Of course, chaplains are almost guaranteed to be asked to care for Black patients and their families in their work, and I think an awareness of the multifaceted challenges faced by the Black community that are articulated here is certainly valuable in better informing that work.

Overall, I found the essays to be pretty hit-or-miss; some are compelling and powerful, others fell flat (often for lack of complexity that made the content feel more hollow than others) and a number were somewhere in the middle for me. I loved "When the Movement Gives Back," which puts the culture of leadership and activism among Black Lives Matter activists in conversation with that of the Black Church and seeks to imagine how the latter could be reshaped by the former. "Rethinking Interpretive Tools for a Liberating Spiritual Care," the most explicitly theological of the collection, was another highlight for me that grapples with the tension of literalist/conservative readings of Scripture that have become somewhat hegemonic in the Black Church with the impetus towards liberation that's so core to the Black experience. "My Mind's Made Up" was another great chapter navigating the complexities of mental health within Black communities and the numerous barriers that make access more difficult at a practical and cultural level. Many of the others were good as entry-points into conversations around a wide variety of issues that Black Americans are forced to confront and navigate, but given the nature of the book as a collection of brief essays they often felt like they just scratched the surface.

[Ralph Sweatte · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a newly minted chaplain, and pursuing the question of the ethics of the church in terms of #blacklivesmatter, I found that the stories and the of Chaplain Buhuro to be very timely in this age of COVID19. In the healthcare systems of America, in the impact of the novel coronavirus the pattern continues that it is the marginalized, in this case, black community that is bearing the brunt of the cases, deaths, and fallout from a deadly virus, and a tone deaf church still failing to see that yes All lives do matter, but it is the black lives that need to be included in that statement for which the church fails to see the often unequal use of a violent response to those lives in America. Recommend reading to be challenge your thinking of what are the needs of African Americans living in what for us is a :Violent America".

[Roland Cabrera · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not helpful as I thought it would be for spiritual care in chaplaincy. Wish the title was better directed toward the intended audience target. This is a book for pastors in predominantly black neighborhoods. Most chapters are an indictment toward black church leadership. Radical Liberal theology and disregard for good exegetical and hermeneutical study. I don't waste your time, I would suggest John Perkins "Let Justice Roll down" or any of his other books over this one.

[Jacob · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like the coverage of topics, but many of the chapters are very poorly written, as if no editing occurred. I also found the organization within and between chapters to be disorganized, almost as if they were put together randomly. Finally, for at least some of the chapters, the connections to theology, spirituality, and pastoral care were thrown in haphazardly and last minute.

[Brian · Rating 2 out of 5]

I appreciate what this book is for but it definitely wasn’t for me. I thought the book would talk more about spirituality across religions and not just Christianity. I do highly recommend this book for Christians in the helping field.

[Ebony · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an honest look at spiritual care in the black community. It's intentionally uncomfortable, putting spiritual care in the context of the realities faced by black people. It certainly pushed me.