Integrative spiritual care for minoritized women in the United States toward a theology of hope and ethic of wholeness mediated through critical consciousness and spiritual practice

Abstract

Christian nationalism (CN) has become a topic of intense and often divisive conversation. Within CN, people from poor, minoritized, and under-resourced contexts often find themselves in purlieus environments. A theology of hope determined by an ethic of wholeness is inclusive as it pertains to the spiritual, political, economic, cultural inclusion, and care of all. Integral to this work is the discussion of spiritual care for minoritized women in the United States. Spiritual care for minoritized women in the United States, rooted in an ethic of wholeness, is radical, inclusive, and just. A component of this care is mediated through breath and body awareness, as they have the potential to be imperative components of compassion-based healing modalities that garner a critical consciousness toward healing and wholeness. Critically conscious compassion is grounded in the understanding of cultural competency and nuance. Competence relies on reverence and open curiosity for a culture not of one’s origin. Racialized women are underrepresented in compassion-focused modalities of healing and transformation. The consequences of multilayered oppressions often create somatically manifested trauma that result in disconnection from body, breath, and spirit. This work engages spiritual care through spiritual practices to resist oppressive reverberations of CN.