“Tend my sheep” pastoral care and faith-based theology in the context of Palestine

This article demonstrates the close link between public theology and pastoral care in the context of Palestine and Jordan. The public theology presented in this paper is faith-based and, more specifically, inspired by the concept of the incarnation, which emphasizes that God is with and among people. This incarnational theology is viewed as the foundation for contextual pastoral care, which takes the religious and socio-political situation in Palestine and Jordan into account, especially the prolonged suffering of the Palestinian people. In this approach, theology is not divorced from the lives of the caregivers and the people, and is expressed in pastoral (self-)care. The concrete manifestations of pastoral care in Palestine and Jordan are described in light of Emmanuel Lartey's theory on pastoral care as preventative, nourishing action that is aware of transcendence and expressed in varied and multisensory ways.