Expanding the Psychological Imagination in Pastoral Theology: Using Novels to Better Understand Underrepresented Persons and Groups

This essay argues for the effectiveness of using novels to develop a more sophisticated pastoral imagination by discussing the unique contributions the novel can make to pastoral care and using Toni Morrison’s (1998) novel Paradise to demonstrate the power of the novel to expand the author’s own pastoral imagination. Themes the novel raises include the contextual nature of human experience; the value of cultural theories for deeper and more penetrating analyses of human experience than those provided by psychological theories alone; and the resources available among victims of oppression and abuse for communal healing. The essay concludes with a discussion of the lessons that novels and, in particular, Morrison’s Paradise, have to teach pastoral theologians.