The Journal of Pastoral Theology was established in 1990 by the Society for Pastoral Theology.

The mission of the Journal of Pastoral Theology is to:

• Further the understanding of pastoral theology as a theological discipline and to clarify the nature of the discipline;
• Maintain a view of pastoral theology as a constructive theology growing out of the exercise of caring relationships, with attention both to present lived experience and to knowledge derived from the past;
• Provide an intentional forum, for the voices of diverse persons, women and men, of many cultural and ethnic backgrounds;
• Foster multi-cultural understandings of issues in the discipline;
• Promote and encourage mulch-discipline/multi-cultural research in the filed of pastoral theology;
• Provide resources for those who teach and those who study, through recording current research and assessing the relevant literature; and
• Provide for the construction of sound theological principles for guidance and critique of pastoral practice; and to work creatively, synthesizing and constructing, to define the frontiers and parameters of the discipline.