Generations of clergy have been accustomed to assume that pastoral training is concerned with the practical side of their ministry: how to organize, how to visit, how to hold the baby when baptizing. Ultimate questions of purpose and value were ignored. Often this can still be the case, but such an approach inevitably seems superficial when the question haunting any minister explicit or unspoken, is 'what am I for?' This is the question which Frank Wright never allows to be forgotten. Without vision, he argues, there can be no effective pastoral ministry. And vision means above all the...

Canon Wright has produced a thoughtful, sensitive and helpful book that shows what lies at the heart of true pastoral rare. He obviously has a tremendous reverence for ordinary people and shows a n awareness of their needs that can only have come out of pastoral experience at the deepest levels. Pavoral Care Jr Lay People ought to be required reading for all those dedicated people who serve as Samaritans, . Although the author is primarily addressing devout Christians, it is clear that what he is saying he regards.as applying in large measure to members of other religions or none' (Church...