Navigating the deep river

As mythos and metaphor, the river has played an important role in the struggles of African Americans in a racist society. After three decades as a pastoral family therapist with African American families and families of other cultures, Archie Smith draws on the spiritual and cultural richness of such metaphors to construct an "ecological approach" to pastoral care, which takes seriously American history, democracy, racism, the environment, and black experience within a multicultural context. Smith's compelling guide demonstrates how pastors and social workers can tap the spiritual wellspring of the African American family in order to counter a deepening sense of despair, to provide hope, and to offer strategies for transformation.