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Where Is the Bachata in Spiritual Care?
Decolonial Spiritual Care after Religion
Where Is the Bachata in Spiritual Care?
Decolonial Spiritual Care after Religion
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Description
Using bachata dance, this book formulates "decolonial spiritual care after religion” in order to recognize the colonial legacy of religion and expand the way spiritual care is understood.
The literature of genealogies of religion, interrogating the construct of religion itself, and its impact on spiritual care is not a frequent talking point within religious circles. Byun Chanmi seeks to change that, affirming that spiritual care, as it is currently understood, must be decolonized. Adopting the metaphor of a genre of social dance called bachata, Byun deconstructs rigid, colonial conceptions of religion and widens the definition of spiritual care. Using bachata sensual as a model for such spiritual care, Byun argues for the need to prioritize and attend to the embodied reality of both the caregiver and the care receiver. This purposeful shift in redefining what counts as "care" through bachata reimagines spiritual care beyond the professional setting and traditional religious frameworks. For care to be holistic and address the multiplicity of people, Byun contends that it must actively interrogate the category of religion and its colonial legacy.
Accessibility Information
Additional accessibility information
- PDF/UA-2, 1.4
- accessibility@bloomsbury.com
Hazards
The publication contains no hazards
Support for non-visual reading
Has alternative text descriptions for images
Navigation
- Page list to go to pages from the print source version
- Elements such as headings, tables, etc for structured navigation
- All or substantially all textual matter is arranged in a single logical reading order
Table of Contents
1: Understanding Decolonial Theory and Religion, Pastoral & Spiritual Care
2: Genealogies of Religion and Spiritual Care
3: Multiple Religious Participation and Spiritual Care
4: Bachata and Decolonial Spiritual Care
Conclusion
Bibliography
Product details
| Published | 10 Dec 2026 |
|---|---|
| Format | Ebook (PDF) |
| Edition | 1st |
| Pages | 256 |
| ISBN | 9798216268222 |
| Imprint | Bloomsbury Academic |
| Series | Postcolonial and Decolonial Studies in Religion and Theology |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
About the contributors
Reviews
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This book is a daring and generative reimagining of spiritual care beyond colonial divisions between sacred and secular, religion and everyday life, and mind and body. Bringing decolonial theory, relational psychoanalysis, religious multiplicity, and the embodied wisdom of bachata into vibrant conversation, Byun Chanmi offers a compelling vision of care grounded in presence, attunement, consent, mutuality, and movement. This book will expand how pastoral theologians, clinicians, chaplains, and spiritual caregivers understand where care happens, how it moves between bodies, and who can offer and receive it
AHyun Lee, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary
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Byun emphasizes joy, connection, and sensuality to expand theoretical resources for decolonial care, especially with spiritually fluid people. Using dance as a metaphor, she places the body at the center of care, seeking to disrupt boundaries among the holy, sensual, spiritual, and corporeal to increase spiritual care literacy and understandings of when and where such care occurs.
Duane R. Bidwell, Claremont Presbyterian Church
























