Practicing Hope: A Handbook for Building HIV and AIDS Competence in the Churches

Almost thirty-five years after the advent of HIV and AIDS, churches, church bodies, and church leaders are developing competence in handling the enormous personal, communal, cultural, and religious dimensions of the epidemic. Yet the challenge is ongoing and global. While the rate of new infections is declining in Africa, for example, it is on the rise in Eastern Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Dr Sue Parry, whose Beacons of Hope provided a breakthrough in helping African and other churches gain HIV competence, here gathers the clinical and pastoral knowledge of a generation into a handbook for pastoral caregivers, seminary educators and professionals in ministry. Utilising a sophisticated and comprehensive framework, the book demonstrates and facilitates the vital role that churches can play in addressing not just the clinical but also the deeper cultural and religious dimensions of the HIV epidemic. Parry's practical and perceptive guide to mainstreaming HIV competence in the churches enables Christians and Christian churches not merely to envision but also to practice it.