Death, Dying, and Bereavement

Catalog description

This course is intended to equip those in pastoral or lay ministry with an understanding of the theological and psychological responses to death, dying, loss, and grief while also building skills in caregiving in these contexts. In particular we will explore the physical process of dying, human responses to various types of loss, the grief process, and pastoral care strategies for care with the dying and bereaved. We will pay special attention to pastoral care to the dying and bereaved in this time of Covid and the challenges it presents. This course will embrace a perspective that embraces ways of living creatively in response to these very human experiences and seeks to locate the sacred in the journey of death and grief and embraces the concept of hope, particularly the transition of hope.