Kirsteen Macaulay
PhD student

Current situation

I am a Baptist Minister and have worked often in cross-cultural and marginalised communities. Alongside this, I have been employed as a healthcare chaplain and bereavement officer in various hospitals and hospices.

Research Area

The Alternative Story: Exploring the pastoral encounter from a narrative lens, utilising the biblical narrative imagery and metaphor as a therapeutic resource.

The inspiration for this research has emerged out of my practice over the years within the area of preaching and pastoral care. It is set more widely in a time of the renaissance of narrative rediscovered within therapeutic disciplines.

The study is primarily interested in the pastoral encounter and the place of narratives, particularly the biblical narrative in Christian pastoral care and therapy. The aim of this research is to engage in critical dialogue, bringing pastoral insights from Narrative Homiletics, which is an example of working with the biblical narrative in unique way within the pastoral setting.

Many stories converge in the pastoral encounter, some have a legacy of hurt and others liberate. The task will involve enabling others to give a voice to sorrow and re-story their lives. One of the strengths of many of the biblical narratives, is they are grounded in the trials of what it is to be human, and individuals can identify with them and often find comfort, hope and transformation in this alternative story.

Supervisory team

The Revd Dr Andrew Todd
Dr Helen Morris