Susan J. Dunlap, Caring Cultures How Congregations Respond To The Sick (Waco, TX Baylor University Press, 2009). Xvii + 241 Pp., $24.95, Paper.

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Book Reviews / Pneuma 32 (2010) 123-175

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Susan J. Dunlap, Caring Cultures: How Congregations Respond to the Sick (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2009). xvii + 241 pp., $24.95, paper.

Susan Dunlap has provided a marvelous example of congregational study in this book that will benefi t pastors, church leaders, and scholars alike. She cannot contain her enthusiasm for the study of congregations, which she calls “extraordinary constellations of individuals, texts, histories, conflicts, reconciliations, loves, losses” (5).

While many interesting conclusions could be drawn from studying congregations, Dun- lap has chosen to focus only on their understandings of and responses to illness. Congrega- tions are “repositories of meanings from which individuals consciously or unconsciously gather illness meanings” (15). She chose not to determine how people created illness mean- ings but to “describe the congregation as sources of those meanings” (15).

The three congregations Dunlap has chosen for her study are all located in Durham, North Carolina, which she describes as African American (Pentecostal), Euro-American (Presbyterian), and Hispanic (Catholic). Her task was not to work scientifi cally or identify ideal types of churches. She admits she worked with churches where she lived because they “represent three communal-cultural bodies that developed in the same civic-geographic entity” (13). Admitting the deep communal divide among the congregations, she neverthe- less presents each as a study of how these disparate communities respond to illness. What is helpful is a brief history of Durham, North Carolina given in the introduction, in which its history is presented as a kind of “presence” that must be accounted for in trying to under- stand these diverse congregations. Dunlap then devotes two chapters to each of the three chosen congregations. The last chapter is a valuable “Practical T eology of the Care for the Sick” that analyzes her studies of these congregations.

In each chapter Dunlap’s description and following analysis of the congregations is pre- sented as “identifi ed beliefs-practices [of illness and healing] presented in three ‘moments’: emphatic description [a congregation’s views in their own terms], appreciative interpreta- tion [from Dunlap’s theological perspective], and cautionary warning (ways the congrega- tions’ views might be vulnerable to universal human impulses toward idolatry)” (49). Dunlap’s “picture” of these congregations helps us appreciate how the corporate and per- sonal places of their lives can become a kind of gift to those who come within their “constel- lation.” T ere are accounts of individuals’ responses to illness and stories of concern or lack thereof. Perhaps equally important is that Dunlap’s research provided a venue for people in these congregations to share important and meaningful moments of their lives with others, and these have now been preserved in Caring Cultures.

In her study, Dunlap intends to help pastors and lay leaders look much more deeply at the ways congregations serve as sources of meaning, in this case regarding illness. She has provided a valuable model of congregational analysis for pastoral theologians to help their ministerial students and church leaders to study and implement in their congregations. Much can be gleaned from the manner in which she conducts her study, including the kinds of questions she asks about beliefs-practices, sacred space, worship, and illness and healing. She hopes her work will help hospital chaplains better understand the cultural and communal histories patients bring to the hospital, that congregations will appreciate that they have “something to teach and something to learn” from other congregations, and that

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2010 DOI: 10.1163/027209610X12628362888036

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Book Reviews / Pneuma 32 (2010) 123-175

mainline churches might look at more vital congregations and be “replenished” (15). Using Dunlap’s model for congregational study, I would add that both theologians and pastors would well learn how scholarship and preaching are heard and then even practiced by the laity.

For readers of Pneuma, the most interesting of Dunlap’s study of the response of the three congregations to the sick will probably be the African American Pentecostal church. In this chapter the Presbyterian Dunlap seems amazed at what Pentecostals are used to: lively wor- ship, gifts of healing, “points of contact” for prayer for the sick, confronting evil spirits, the use of prayer cloths, casting out demons, giving God glory even when medicines were used, and so forth. She notes with little comment that through the claiming of Bible verses God is “obligated” to respond to fervent prayers for healing (62). What concerns her about such “works-righteousness” — that is, if I am good enough I can get God’s healing — is that these can become “possibilities for idol-making” (61). Dunlap also notes, however, that where the church “shines most brightly” is in the “transformation of one’s sick body into a beacon of inspiration” (68).

Further, even though fervent prayers were said, including trying to demand God’s response, the people were still willing to praise God when healing did not come. In fact, Dunlap notes the reaction of a white male student chaplain to the unwavering faith of a seriously ill African American patient. It was this ability to believe so fi rmly in divine heal- ing and yet to maintain a positive outlook on faith even when healing did not come as expected that so impressed Dunlap. What surprised Dunlap (and me, too!) was her first exposure to the church, its worship, and its pastor. The service began with singing, praise, and shouting but without the pastor, who made a grand entrance into the service about thirty minutes later . . . in a wheelchair. He was a quadruple amputee! Both he and his wife viewed their faithfulness despite his physical limitation as an example of faith to others. Perhaps the most valuable chapter of this book is the last chapter, “Practical T eology of the Care for the Sick,” which alone is worth the price of the book. In this chapter Dunlap gives a creative interpretation of her studies of the three congregations using her “moments” mentioned earlier. Weaving theological, sociological, psychological, and pastoral perspec- tives together articulately and sensitively in her analysis of the insights gained of the ways these churches dealt with illness, Dunlap has modeled very well the ways in which congre- gational studies can yield fruit, not just for pastors and congregations but for researchers across the disciplines.

Reviewed by Steven M. Fettke

Professor of Religion

Southeastern University, Lakeland, Florida, USA

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