Drawing on research and case studies, three pastoral care experts argue that one of the primary contexts in which the faith formation of teenage boys takes place is in their relationships with other adolescent males. Written by the authors of "Losers, Loners, and Rebels: The Spiritual Struggles of Boys," this book is an important resource for anyone interested in helping adolescent males navigate years often marked by isolation and loneliness to develop a meaningful spiritual identity.

The early years of adolescence are a tumultuous time, full of challenges and opportunities that can shape one's whole life. In recent years several books have analyzed this period of life for girls, but this is the first book that investigates the interior life of boys as they develop their sense of self and begin the spiritual journey that will carry them throughout their lives. The authors contend that adolescent boys often experience themselves at various times as losers, loners, and rebels. As self-defined losers, boys begin to realize self-awareness; as loners they begin to understand their own relatedness to the larger world; as rebels they gain a sense of self-sufficiency. Through these common experiences of life, boys gain self-awareness, self-transcendence, and self-sufficiency, concepts that take root in the spirituality that will last their lifetime.

Using contemporary parables and psychological principles, Robert Dykstra introduces a model of sermon preparation that concentrates especially on connecting biblical texts with contemporary life and with the preacher's own experiences. Each chapter introduces a key theme, offers a sermon model, and concludes with an analysis of the sermon.

Robert Dykstra traces the roots of youth's troubles to a despair that reflects hopelessness about a meaningful future. But these sixteen- to twenty-one-year-olds can experience newness, surprise, and hope by drawing on a sound foundation, grounded in the knowledge of God's love and care for them. This valuable resource is ideal for counselors, pastors, and parents. The purpose of the Counseling and Pastoral Theology series is to address clinical issues that arise among particular populations currently neglected in the literature on pastoral care and counseling. This series is committed to enhancing both the theoretical base and the clinical expertise of pastoral caregivers by providing a pastoral theological paradigm that will inform both assessment and intervention with persons in these specific populations.

This book is an edited volume of works that have predominated over the past several decades in contemporary pastoral theology. Through the writings of nineteen leading voices in the history of pastoral care, Dykstra shows how each contributor developed a metaphor for understanding pastoral care. Such metaphors include the solicitous shepherd, the wounded healer, the intimate stranger, the midwife, and other tangible images. Through these works, the reader gains a sense of the varied identities of pastoral care professionals, their struggles for recognition in this often controversial field, and insight into the history of the disciple. Images of Pastoral Care includes readings by Anton Boisen, Alastair Campbell, Donald Capps, James Dittes, Robert Dykstra, Heije Faber, Charles Gerkin, Brita Gill-Austern, Karen Hanson, Seward Hiltner, Margaret Zipse Kornfeld, Bonnie Miller-McLemore, Jeanne Stevenson Moessner, Henri Nouwen, Gaylord Noyce, Paul Pruyser, and Edward Wimberly.