Reinterpreting Funerals and Pastoral Care: A Pastoral Theology Response to Tom Long's Accompany Them with Singing

This article addresses Tom Long's (2009) criticism that a traditional pastoral care approach to funerals is responsible for significant distortions in contemporary Christian funeral practices in the United States. The article will show that his criticism should be affirmed but that his solution for a contemporary understanding of pastoral care and funerals is not adequate. A critique and reinterpretation of pastoral care and funerals will show that Long's reform of Christian funerals needs to incorporate a contemporary understanding of caring for the bereaved in funerals.