$55.00
Online (asynchronous)
This 4-part course explores storytelling and active listening as core practices in pastoral care, drawing from pastoral theology and the Chicana feminist method of autohistoria. Autohistoria is a narrative and theoretical practice in which personal story, cultural history, spirituality, and imagination intertwine to generate healing, self-understanding, and social transformation. Chicana and Xicana feminists have used autohistoria to reclaim identity, write marginalized experiences into history, and challenge dominant narratives by illuminating the intersections of race, culture, gender, sexuality, spirituality, and land. Their work demonstrates how storytelling can be a site of resistance, liberation, and deep spiritual insight.
Designed for alumni, clergy, laity, community leaders, nonprofit professionals engaged in the work of care, this course invites participants to engage autohistoria as a reflective, writing-based, and listening-centered modality for pastoral and spiritual care. Through guided prompts, case examples, and embodied listening practices, participants will explore how personal and collective narratives shape identity, inform faith experience, and open pathways for healing. By integrating insights from religion, culture, and psychology, the course cultivates pastoral capacities for witnessing stories with compassion, accompanying others through identity formation, and using narrative as a tool for spiritual care and community wellbeing.