an American narrative traditions to pastoral events in a systematic way. The first part of African American Pastoral Care explains the concept of pastoral care as it relates to the institutional-religion experience in the black community. Thus a discussion of the connection of pastoral care to worship and ritual is followed by discussion of its connection to the emotional and psychological support systems that are a feature of the church community in general. These discussions are anchored in the application of worship and support systems to what appear to be the most common real-world pastoral problems in the current era: addiction/marriage counseling and the emotional and spiritual crises that accompany the experience of serious illness and death. With the foundation laid, Wimberly proceeds to discuss in more detail the role of pastoral-care narrative in facilitating clients' passage, continuity, and closure through the various stages of life, from birth stories to old-age stories of life's memories. From here African American Pastoral Care turns to the most highly charged and difficult pastoral issues, which emerge in the context of marital and family counseling --and which may not always be successful, depending on what life narrative people have constructed for themselves. For example, if marriage partners fail
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