About this course

Dr. Ronald Richardson (D. Min)  served as a Presbyterian Church pastor doing inner city work in two U.S. East Coast Congregations for 10 years. He spent four years in a racially integrated church located in an all black community. He was also the Director of Community Center that served the social needs of the community. Then, he served six years in a white church located in a rapidly changing neighborhood with many poor, black people moving in to their midst.  In addition to the normal pastoral duties, he worked as a community organizer around a variety of community concerns.

Throughout his work life, Dr. Richardson had the opportunity to work with polarized community issues on many different levels. If attendees wish, they could read his book Polarization and the Healthier Church. This work gave the basis of Bowen theory’s application to social situations and it gives four extended examples that Ron was directly involved in that demonstrates the usefulness of Bowen theory in practical situations. Although it is not a book about faith and belief, it is applied to the church setting because in the U.S. congregations are quite polarized and they reflect what is happening in the larger society.