Empathy: A Bridge between

Abstract

Suggests that the capacity for a broad, rich, and encompassing empathy is an essential ingredient of an authentic intercultural experience and understanding for an effective ministry in a world church. Notes that empathy is a process as well as a disposition. Proposes that shared stories greatly enhance the possibility of empathy as do the realities of physical and psychic presence. Suggests that the theological notion of the Incarnation is a powerful metaphor for both the possibilities and the limits of empathy.