Can You Hear My Pain Now? - by Michael G Maness & Kevaughn Mattis

Book Synopsis

Pastoral care and its theology get a gentle boost from some of the best in the business of caring for the soul. When a person hurts, they often look to God. Several pathfinders give new light from their specialties, each one speaking powerfully, uniquely, and artfully from decades of experience. Dr. Amos Yong's article on disability forwards the amazingly helpful term, ""temporarily able-bodied."" Greek Orthodox Dr. Vasileios Thermos and Roman Catholic Dr. Robert Fastiggi enlighten next to the powerful testaments of Professor Godfrey Harold on South Africa and Dr. Samuel Yonas Deressa on Ethiopia. Each weathered author contributes universal insights into the grace of our great God and challenges pastors throughout the Christian world to kindly consider the heart of the afflicted. These finely hewn stones can be used by anyone in the ministry to sharpen their serve. Mattis and Maness offer this third collection from Testamentum Imperium with a prayer that these will open new avenues of sensitivity to the hearts and souls of those in travail and aid those who are called by God to serve those in pain.

Review Quotes

"Maness and Mattis have assembled the most diverse assortment of voices from varied fields of expertise to address a broad array of topics centered on the issue of pastoral care and pastoral theology. The span of issues included makes this volume an invaluable reading resource for university and seminary courses focused on pastoral theology, ethics, or practice. . . . I heartily commend this book to both professors and pastoral-care practitioners."

--R. Robert Creech, George W. Truett Theological Seminary, Baylor University

"This book brings together a wonderful diversity of women and men writers from multiple geographic locations, nationalities, ministry positions, and denominational traditions to this crucial issue of bringing a pastoral voice into the domain of pain, suffering, loss, and lament. . . . The variety of voices heard in these twenty-four essays brings a rich and meaningful depth of thought to the topic and consistently makes a solid move from the biblical and theological to the practical and pastoral."

--David G. Barker, Heritage Theological Seminary, emeritus

About the Author

Michael G. Maness is a retired senior clinical chaplain from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, the author of ten books, over 100 articles, including the pivotal How We Saved Texas Prison Chaplaincy 2011, and has been managing editor of Testamentum Imperium for over 15 years. He earned an MDiv from SWBTS and a DMin from NOBTS, and has been involved in lobbying Texas for prison chaplains for 25-plus years. His website PreciousHeart.net hosts the largest collection of data on prison chaplaincy in the U.S. as well as the 300-plus articles published by Testamentum Imperium.



Kevaughn Mattis is the founder of Testamentum Imperium and is a practicing attorney in Trinidad Tobago with a Bachelors in Law (LLB) (Hons), University of London, UK and an LPC from BPP Law School, Manchester, UK. He has been networking with scholars on religion and the law for over 15 years