Edward P. Wimberly is executive vice president for academic affairs and student affairs/academic dean and Jarena Lee Professor of Pastoral Care at the Interdenominational Theological Seminary in Atlanta.

"It is because pastoral care and counseling facilitate personal agency and efficacy (personal, as well as social, and political empowerment and transformation) that African American pastoral care and counseling are inherently political processes contends Wimberly." "Here, he outlines the theological anthropology that undergirds the practices of care and the practices of self as holistic processes. He shows those who engage in pastoral counselling with African Americans how to navigate around the negative self-images, identities, and stories into which they have been recruited in order to liberate themselves and be able to discern how to best make use of their personal and political agency and efficacy."--BOOK JACKET.