The Abraham story as theological inspiration for pastoral care - a practical theological study based on a creational reading of the book of Genesis

This article suggests the Abraham narrative, in the first book of the Bible, is applicable to contemporary pastoral care. As a conversation partner for this thesis, the author uses an anonymized case study from a contemporary hospital in Denmark. A theological argument in the thesis weaves the Abraham story into the creation flow that is argued to run through the entire book of Genesis. This mode of reading the tales in Genesis softens the outrageous interactions in Abraham's life, while still rejecting the false hermeneutic of 'let us go and do likewise today'. The proposal is instead that with the Abraham story in Genesis contemporary practitioners of pastoral care and suffering people can find pastoral and meaningful material that gives room for exploring the most horrifying experiences in life today always relating them to a bearing, sustaining and creational God.