Reviews for Spiritual Care for Children Living in Specialized Settings

The average rating for Spiritual Care for Children Living in Specialized Settings based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2010-09-04 00:00:00 Caitee Vallee What this book does, it does well, for the most part. However, it is extremely limited in scope. This is not a book to pick up with the attitude that "this isn't exactly what I do, but I'm sure there are things I can adapt. If you're not a spiritual director at a residential treatment center, this book doesn't have much to tell you. Even if you work at a residential treatment center in a role other than that of the youth minister, this book doesn't have much to tell you. Also, while I admire the author for advocating support of children within their own faith traditions, he is still limited somewhat by his own Christian upbringing. For instance, he says of repentance: "...one must turn his or her life over to the care or love of God as he or she understands God. ...[U]ntil we know that we are loved unconditionally by a power greater than we are, it is virtually impossible to repent or change our lives." While this fits in admirably with the Christian tradition and probably works just fine for Jews and Muslims, I have to wonder how effective it is for members of religions that are less invested in an all-powerful, all-knowing deity. I have no objection to that way of coming to terms with the past. But I find the use of words like "only" in this and similar passages rather worrying. Imagine being an atheist teenager with a lot of pain and being told by all around you that you can't begin learning to deal with your pain until you manage to start believing in God. And I do think that he would come into contact with those children in the course of running the grief support groups, etc. that he describes. Still, as a basic guide, it has a lot of sound common-sense advice.

Review # 2 was written on 2013-09-04 00:00:00 Mark Kisselbach Despite being a bit of a rant and being slightly dated, this is generally a good book. McCutcheon's frustrations are helpful in historically narrating the trials and tribulations of the field of religious studies and in many cases remain relevant. I find the late chapters on film and creating an intro class unhelpful for contemporary classrooms and he misunderstands Carl Raschke, only citing one short essay (dated even for when McCutheon cites it) without attention to his large amount of published works. But all and all, I agree with much of what McCutheon has to say about theory, not just for religious studying but literary studies as well.