Classic Pastoral Care provides a topical arrangement of passages from classic Christian writings offering guidance on all major topics of pastoral theology. The four-volume set features writings from more than two hundred notable Christian authors--from Abelard and Ambrose to Isaac Watts and Zwingli--arranged in thirty topical sections.

Volume four, Crisis Ministries, deals with crucial situations in which pastors are often called to respond to urgent and specific challenges: care of the sick, the management of pain, the struggle with the meaning of suffering, pastoral visitation of families, interpersonal crises, conflict resolution, care of the emotionally ill, alcoholism, vocational counseling, suicide counseling, premarital, marital and family counseling, care of the poor, care for the terminally ill, and care for the dying and the grieving.