Gender and Sexuality in the Pastoral Encounter

Abstract

At the ‘Embodied Ministry: Gender, Sexuality and Formation’ conference at which the articles in this special issue were delivered, three people in active ministry in different denominations — United Reformed Church, Metropolitan Community Church and Roman Catholic — were invited to take part in a panel discussion on gender and sexuality in the pastoral encounter. Their remarks were originally delivered in this conversational context. Martin Pendergast chaired this panel discussion.     

Love and Eschatology

Abstract : This article reflects on the connection between Christian hope for salvation and Christian praxis today. Following a discussion of Christian approaches to hope, salvation, and reconciliation, the eschatological potential of love is explored in conversation with significant theologies of love in Western Christianity. It is argued that love, properly understood, offers the most adequate and dynamic horizon for approaching God's coming reign and for being transformed in the process.     

Women and the Art of Peacemaking: Data from Israeli-Palestinian Interactive Problem-Solving Workshops

Are women “natural” peacemakers? If so, is this because of natural inclinations to avoid conflict or to engage in tough discussions? Are there particular skills in which women excel that make them more likely than their male counterparts to be able to build relational bridges, to facilitate negotiations, and to reduce tensions? After a review of the literature on gender differences in such skills, a systematic comparison of interaction quality is made between two Israeli-Palestinian interactive problem-solving workshops that differed only in gender composition. A third Israeli-Palestinian workshop that involved female political elites is also examined for subsequent changes in the conflict relationship or for changes in political activity. The implications of different repertoires of skills for altering political processes are discussed.     

Talking about Disability in Prenatal Genetic Counseling: A Report of Two Interactive Workshops

Women are commonly offered testing in pregnancy to determine the health of their baby. An important component of informed decision-making about prenatal testing is provision of relevant, accurate, meaningful information concerning the conditions that are being tested for—many of which, such as Down syndrome, are associated with a varying degree of physical and intellectual disability. A range of health professionals, including genetic counselors, may provide information and support throughout the testing process, but available data suggest that discussion of disability is frequently absent or limited. To investigate genetic counselors’ perceptions of this situation and identify potential barriers to discussion we facilitated interactive workshops at the 2007 National Society of Genetic Counselors Annual Education Conference (NSGC) and the 2008 European Meeting on Psychosocial Aspects of Genetics (EMPAG). Working groups identified relevant psychosocial issues and impediments to discussion (NSGC) or used a two-part scenario to promote discussion (EMPAG) and reported findings in notes and a closing plenary discussion. Inductive content analysis revealed that participants considered informed decision making to be a major reason for presenting information about disabilities in prenatal genetic counseling and endorsed the value of including information about daily life with Down syndrome and other disabilities. However, they identified three broad types of impediments to such discussion: counseling issues concerning the most appropriate manner to discuss disability under the complex circumstances of prenatal genetic counseling, less than optimal training and experience in addressing these issues, and perceived limitations in the participants’ knowledge and understanding of life with disability. Our analysis of the responses from the workshop participants and additional thoughts on these issues have led us to develop recommendations for further research, training and clinical practice.     

Close Encounters in the Liminal Zone: Experiments in Imaginal Communication Part I

The phenomenology of the experience of being in psychic contact with another person was explored in a series of observations using a novel dyadic interaction in imaginal space. Research participants working in pairs with eyes closed received instructions to imagine being in mental contact with one another for three minutes while they observed their internal experiences. Their reports indicated that the imagined contact was experienced as real, as intimate, and aroused the ambivalences usually associated with intimacy as well as phenomena suggestive of projective identification effects. This first part demonstrated that the liminal zone, or the transitional space between individuals, can be experimentally observed through the imagination. Part II of this report will present evidence that the experienced psychic contact was more than 'just imagination', and involved transpersonal interactions, including suggestions of synchronicity and telepathy.     

Close encounters in the liminal zone: experiments in imaginal communication Part II

The phenomenology of the experience of being in psychic contact with another person was explored in a series of observations using a novel dyadic interaction in imaginal space. Research participants working in pairs with eyes closed received instructions to imagine being in mental contact with one another for three minutes while they observed their internal experiences. Their reports indicated that the imagined contact was experienced as real, as intimate, and aroused the ambivalences usually associated with intimacy as well as phenomena suggestive of projective identification effects. This first part demonstrated that the liminal zone, or the transitional space between individuals, can be experimentally observed through the imagination. Part II of this report will present evidence that the experienced psychic contact was more than 'just imagination', and involved transpersonal interactions, including suggestions of synchronicity and telepathy.     

An emerging theory of apology

There is no consensus in the psychological literature regarding the operational definition of an apology, nor is there a comprehensive theory of apology. The object of this study was to use a hermeneutic phenomenological approach and grounded theory methodology to develop a theory of apology based on lay people's interpretation of apologetic responses. Data were methodically gathered by interviewing 23 people who had been wronged by an intimate partner. The analysis of the data suggests that there is not a single discrete definition of an apology, but that it is more appropriate to conceptualise apology as a process that consists of one or more of three components: affect, affirmation, and action. Each of these components has two categories; one that reflects a self‐focus on the part of the wrongdoer, and the other a self–other focus. What will be accepted as a good enough apology appears to depend on the severity of the consequences of the wrong, the level of responsibility attributed to the wrongdoer, and the perceived wrongfulness of the behaviour.     

Encounter with a traditional healer: Western and African therapeutic approaches in dialogue

The paper explores the extent to which cultural aspects contribute to the modalities of human relations and consequently to the qualities of the internal objects and the sense of identity. Therapeutic relationships and techniques, as well as the theories on which they are based, are seen as being equally embedded in their cultural context. An encounter with a traditional African healer offers the author, a western trained European analyst, an opportunity to think about similarities and differences in the therapeutic approach to mental distress, as well as in the training of therapists/healers in the two cultures. Special attention is given to the role of ancestor reverence in African culture. The notion of the ancestors is related to what psychoanalysis describes as internal objects. Cultural differences in the role and importance of verbal language in the therapeutic relationship are described, and the importance and meaning of non-verbal forms of communication are explored.     

Aquinas and the Democratic Virtues: An Introduction

Can the theology of Thomas Aquinas serve as a resource for reflection on democratic civic virtue? That is the central question taken up by Mark Jordan, Adam Eitel, John Bowlin, and Michael Lamb in this focus issue. The four authors agree on one thing: Aquinas himself was no fan of democracy. They disagree, though, over whether Aquinas can offer resources for theorizing democratic virtues. Bowlin, Eitel, and Lamb believe he can, and propose Thomistic accounts of tolerance, civic friendship, and democratic hope, respectively. Jordan, in contrast, issues a cautionary note against such enterprises. This divergence is due in part to different judgments about what it would mean to claim certain resources as “Thomistic.” In part, too, it flows from a disagreement about whether Aquinas himself countenances genuine virtues among non‐Christian citizens, and about whether Christians and non‐Christians can be said to share even proximate ends. This conversation is an important one, since accounts of the democratic virtues constructed using Thomistic resources have the potential to move discussions of democratic and theological virtues beyond common impasses.     

Social-Psychological Interventions for Intergroup Reconciliation: An Emotion Regulation Perspective

Intergroup reconciliation is a requirement for lasting peace in the context of intergroup conflicts. In this article, we offer an emotion regulation perspective on social-psychological interventions aimed at facilitating intergroup reconciliation. In the first section of the article, we conceptualize intergroup reconciliation as an emotion-regulation process involving positive affective change and offer a framework that integrates the emotion regulation and intergroup reconciliation literatures. In the sections that follow, we review social-psychological interventions that involve changes in beliefs and identity and assess their effects on specific intergroup emotions pertinent for intergroup reconciliation. More specifically, we focus our discussion on specific reconciliation-oriented intervention strategies and their relation to emotions pertinent for facilitating reconciliation, including intergroup hatred, anger, guilt, hope, and empathy. In the final section, we consider key implications and growth points for the field of intergroup reconciliation.     

Couple Relationship Distress and Observed Expression of Intimacy During Reminiscence About Positive Relationship Events

Satisfied couples report that positive, intimate communication is central to their relationship. We developed the positive reminiscence task, in which couples discuss positive relationship moments to assess communication of positive intimacy. The behavior and heart rate of 28 satisfied and 25 distressed couples were assessed during positive reminiscence and problem solving. As predicted, satisfied couples demonstrated higher rates of positive affect and dyadic intimacy than distressed couples during positive reminiscence, and these positive behaviors occurred at much lower rates during problem solving than positive reminiscence. However, the differences between distressed and satisfied couples were more marked on most assessed behaviors during problem solving rather than positive reminiscence. Two notable exceptions were that dyadic intimacy and sadness differed more between distressed and satisfied couples during positive reminiscence than problem solving. The positive reminiscence task assesses intimate behaviors in a manner likely to be useful in research and practice.     

Trust and the Healing Encounter: An Examination of an Unorthodox Healing Performance

Just why a patient should trust a particular healer isa question that has not been adequately explored inthe literature on healing. This ethnographiccase-report examines the healing performance of achiropractor and proposes that it contains fourintrinsic claims to trustworthiness: he claims to bea qualified and sincere healer who is inpossession of knowledge and techniques that derivetheir power from their truth content and whichempower him to make beneficial changes in thepatient. Taking each claim in turn I described thenature of the claim, how it might be adequatelyvalidated, ways in which his healing performance mightvalidate it and how he might be assisted by thepatient, and how their actual validation may bedistorted by the healer and patient. It is suggestedthat while unusual in many regards, this unorthodoxhealing performance may be a foil by which toexamine other more orthodox healing performances.     

Rainbows in the society: A measure of hope for society

The aim of this study was to develop and validate a measure of social hope. Previous studies have extensively reported on personal hope and its outcomes. Although a few studies have suggested the concept of collective or social hope, there is no instrument to assess the construct. In this study, we created a 5‐item scale, drawing on Snyder's hope theory, and collected two sets of survey data online. Analysis of these data sets revealed that the new scale was structurally unidimensional and internally consistent. In association with Snyder's State Hope Scale, the Social Hope Scale showed convergent and discriminant validity. The social hope construct also exhibited theoretically meaningful relationships with political efficacy and self‐construal (concurrent validity). Finally, social hope was higher for those who had participated in certain types of social activism than it was for those who had not (predictive validity). These results suggest that the Social Hope Scale is a reliable and valid self‐report measure of hopeful thinking for society.     

The Contribution of Hope and Affectivity to Diabetes-Related Disability: An Exploratory Study

This study examined the relationships of the dispositional variables of hope, positive affectivity (PA), and negative affectivity (NA) with disease status and illness-related psychosocial functioning in a sample of 45 young adults with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM). Canonical analyses revealed one significant canonical function between the dispositional and psychosocial outcome variables. Primary contributors to the relationship were higher NA and lower PA and maladaptive emotional behavior. A linear multiple regression analysis using hope and affectivity as predictors failed to account for a significant proportion of variance in objective disease status as measured by hemoglobin A _1C (HbA_1C). The results support previous findings that affectivity may relate to self-reported, disease-related outcome, but not necessarily to objective measures of health status. Future studies of adaptation to chronic illness should consider including measures of illness-related behaviors (e.g., adherence), as well as subjective and objective measures of health status.     

The positive contributions of hope to maintaining and restoring health: An integrative,mixed-method approach

A link between hope and physical well-being has long been suspected. To shed further light on this issue, an integrative theory of hope was used to design three health-related studies. In studies one and two, an integrative hope scale was used. In study one, greater hope was associated with depth of commitment to a healthier diet and regular exercise. In study two, the integrative hope scale was associated with a wider array of health behaviors as compared to a standard goal-oriented hope scale. In study three, a hope-centered content analysis of testimonies provided by long-term breast cancer survivors revealed a strong reliance on attachment and spirituality, dimensions typically neglected in psychological studies of this [hope] construct. An integrative approach to hope offers a framework for further research on hope and health as well as a blueprint for developing positive interventions to sustain and restore physical well-being.     

Identifying Attitudes and Behaviors in Intimate Relationships: Psychometric Properties of the Relationship Evaluation and Analysis Link

This study examined the psychometric properties of the Relationship Evaluation and Analysis Link (REAL), a survey that assesses attitudes and behaviors in intimate relationships including Cognitive Complexity, Expressive/Receptive, Intimacy, Negotiative, Sexual, Self-Knowledge, and Separateness. It was designed for individuals in counseling to identify key areas of functioning in intimate relationships. Four hundred and fifty-one volunteers participated from two U.S. universities. A four-week test-retest examined the consistency of responses over time. The scales demonstrated stability over a four-week period. The factor structure yielded eight factors. The REAL is a reliable instrument that can be used for its intended purposes. Future revisions may involve reducing the number of items.