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A review by aegagrus
Shelter Theology: The Religious Lives of People Without Homes by Susan J Dunlap
3.75
Dunlap's title, "Shelter Theology", is an effective bit of marketing but a misleading way to sum up her book. Fortunately, once I readjusted my expectations, I found a great deal of valuable insight here.
At its heart, this is a book about the pastoral difficulties associated with ministering to people whose religious lives are very different from your own. Dunlap recounts her experiences working as a chaplain at an emergency shelter in Durham, NC. She describes the ways in which her own pastoral training prioritized listening, empathy, accompaniment, and subtle theological interpretations which didn't offend a modernist and scientific view of the world. These pastoral instincts often proved to be at odds with the spiritual needs of those attending prayer services in the shelter. Predominantly Black and steeped in various Low Church traditions, the attendees valued oratory and testimony which directly called upon familiar scriptural and proverbial source material, affirmed the active presence of God and the Devil in the material world, and was often driven to theodicy and the presence of divine meaning in personal narrative. Dunlap reflects on the life-sustaining force of these forms of religious expression and belief, letting her interviewees speak for themselves by reproducing their narratives at length. She finds wisdom in their practical theologies, but also asks open-ended questions. Most interestingly, she acknowledges that she herself will never be able to tap into their religious modalities in an authentic way, and reflects on the ways in which she can use her social and educational capital to create, facilitate, or sustain spaces in which peer-to-peer ministry and encouragement is possible.
Dunlap's book, then, is not primarily a theological account of the condition of being unhoused, or even a sociological account of unhoused peoples' religious practice in general. Indeed, when it comes closest to this territory -- in its first and last chapters -- it is at its weakest and most superficial. Dunlap's book is closer to a personal reflection on the experience of running a non-denominational prayer service at a shelter in North Carolina, the stories and narratives that shelter's residents shared with her, and the changing ways in which she came to understand and carry out her role as chaplain. It is on this basis that those interested in pastoral practice may benefit quite substantially from this book, especially when working with religious forms and/or content which may be unfamiliar or uncomfortable.
At its heart, this is a book about the pastoral difficulties associated with ministering to people whose religious lives are very different from your own. Dunlap recounts her experiences working as a chaplain at an emergency shelter in Durham, NC. She describes the ways in which her own pastoral training prioritized listening, empathy, accompaniment, and subtle theological interpretations which didn't offend a modernist and scientific view of the world. These pastoral instincts often proved to be at odds with the spiritual needs of those attending prayer services in the shelter. Predominantly Black and steeped in various Low Church traditions, the attendees valued oratory and testimony which directly called upon familiar scriptural and proverbial source material, affirmed the active presence of God and the Devil in the material world, and was often driven to theodicy and the presence of divine meaning in personal narrative. Dunlap reflects on the life-sustaining force of these forms of religious expression and belief, letting her interviewees speak for themselves by reproducing their narratives at length. She finds wisdom in their practical theologies, but also asks open-ended questions. Most interestingly, she acknowledges that she herself will never be able to tap into their religious modalities in an authentic way, and reflects on the ways in which she can use her social and educational capital to create, facilitate, or sustain spaces in which peer-to-peer ministry and encouragement is possible.
Dunlap's book, then, is not primarily a theological account of the condition of being unhoused, or even a sociological account of unhoused peoples' religious practice in general. Indeed, when it comes closest to this territory -- in its first and last chapters -- it is at its weakest and most superficial. Dunlap's book is closer to a personal reflection on the experience of running a non-denominational prayer service at a shelter in North Carolina, the stories and narratives that shelter's residents shared with her, and the changing ways in which she came to understand and carry out her role as chaplain. It is on this basis that those interested in pastoral practice may benefit quite substantially from this book, especially when working with religious forms and/or content which may be unfamiliar or uncomfortable.