"In the most general sense, spirituality has to do with how we experience ourselves in relation to what we designate as the source of ultimate power and meaning in life, and how we live out this relationship." With these words, Nelson Thayer sets out to link spirituality and the practice of pastoral care. He aims to provide connections between the understanding of the per-son-as found in such current psychologies as those of Freud, Erikson, Rogers, Jung, and others-and the more specifically religious dimensions of human experience and development. His ultimate goal is "to show how the practice of prayer func-tions both in the overall dynamic of spirituality, and how this ar-ticulates with pastoral care as it has come to be practiced by a psychologically informed generation of clergy."

Nelson S. T. Thayer is Professor of Psychology and Religion at the Theological School of Drew University. Madison, New Jersey.