Foreword / Wesley Carr -- Pt. 1. Understanding ageing -- 1. An ageing society? -- 2. Theories of ageing -- 3. Images of old age -- 4. Health and well-being in age -- 5. Diminishment: age-related changes -- Pt. 2. Responding to and learning from older people -- 6. The religious and spiritual needs of older people -- 7. Worship with older people -- 8. Older people and memory -- 9. Older people: intimacy, relationships and sexuality -- 10. Sharing our story: pastoral engagement with older widows -- 11. Men and age: images, questions and reconstructions -- 12. Lifelong learning and older people -- 13. Retirement -- 14. Older people: illness, healing and death -- Pt. 3. The future of ageing -- 15. Ageing and social policy -- 16. A theology of ageing -- 17. Successful ageing -- App. 1. Age statistics -- App. 2. Narrative biography and older people.

"Pastoral care and practical theology in the light of age and ageing are the focus of this book. It will help carers in many different settings to understand the elderly and the issues they face. In particular, it looks at how theories of age relate to our experience, and how experience might challenge and shape our theologies. Our shared commitment to an awareness of lifelong learning can help our ministry to be reflective and wise; it can broaden our imagination with sympathy." "The text is grounded in the experience of older people: their hopes and fears, their problems and possibilities. There are exercises at the end of each chapter to help reflection."--BOOK JACKET.