From the word to the conversation: Paradigms and psychology in German protestant pastoral thought

Under steady pressure from ordinary pastoral practice German Protestantism gradually made proclamatory pastoral care more responsive to human need and more adequate to human complexity. In doing so it drew heavily from psychology, but the very refinements helped obscure its original intent. For that and other reasons it came into crisis and was replaced by therapeutic pastoral care, which now dominates German pastoral thought and practice. Each of these paradigms of pastoral work reflected in its own way on the theological aspects of pastoral care, producing quite different theologies of pastoral care and employing psychology in that process in quite different ways.Dr. Burck is Assistant Professor of Religion and Health and Chaplain-Supervisor at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center, 1753 W. Congress Parkway, Chicago, Illinois 60612. This article is a sequal to his The New Pastoral Care in Germany, published in the Summer, 1978 issue ofPastoral Psychology.     

Orthodox Christian Healthcare Ministry amidst the Tensions of Ecumenism

The paradoxes of globalization and the efforts toward the establishmentof a consolidated healthcare ministry have caused tensions whileaffording the possibility for true ecumenical dialogue. As today'ssocieties become more pluralistic, Orthodox Christian healthcareministry finds itself amongst these paradoxes and tensions.The content of Orthodox healthcare chaplaincy, which is centeredin its Eucharistic expression, maintains a sense of catholicityand unity. This though differs from a "psychological" understandingof pastoral care, which has developed. Therefore, there is aquestion of the chaplain's identity, a crisis of theology andecclesiology, which must be faced so that true unity can beattained. This article explains the content of Orthodox healthcarechaplaincy and addresses the issues of pastoral identity, theologyand psychology, together with the crisis of ecclesiology. Itis written with a true agony for unity.     

Phenomenology and pastoral care

The author discusses phenomenology as a potential resource for pastoral care generally and then illustrates its implications in two specific areas of pastoral care. After a brief discussion of the development of phenomenology, he defines pastoral care and identifies its methodological problem. Phenomenology, it is argued, offers potentially helpful methods and interpretative categories in its attitude, its attempts at self-aware, ordered discernment, and its anthropology. It serves to militate against the temptation in pastoral care to understand human problems in terms of individual and social pathology, in the case of individuals, and to illumine the ways the community functions as a dimension of pastoral care.He is the author ofEcclesial Man.     

Representing the Good: Pastoral Care in a Secular Age

In ‘a secular age’ (Taylor 2007), pastoral care is no longer exclusively associated with specific religious traditions and communities. Pastoral caregivers who work in secular institutions provide care to religious and nonreligious people alike, and in several Western societies the term pastoral care is used in relation to nonreligious (humanist) care. In secular contexts, the term ‘pastoral care’ is often replaced by the term ‘spiritual care.’ Spiritual care, however, is provided by various professionals, so pastoral caregivers face the challenge of developing adequate and convincing language to explain what is distinctive about their work. In this article, the authors turn to philosophical language in order to develop a conceptual understanding of pastoral care that does not depend on the specific worldview—religious or nonreligious—of either pastoral caregivers or receivers of pastoral care. Using the work of Taylor (1989, 2007) and Murdoch (1970), we explain pastoral care as engaging with people’s attempts to orient in ‘moral space’ and the distinctive quality of pastoral care as ‘representing the Good.’ Murdoch associates ‘the Good’ with a secular idea of transcendence that is both a movement beyond the ego and an engagement with the reality of human vulnerability, suffering, and evil. We argue that pastoral caregivers who ‘represent the Good’ have the task not only of supporting the existential and spiritual processes of individuals but also of promoting dialogue and social justice and of critiquing dehumanizing practices in the organizations in which they work and in society at large.     

A preliminary proposal for a scale to measure the effectiveness of pastoral care with family members of hospitalized patients

The authors conducted an electronic search of the Medline database for articles measuring family satisfaction. Content analysis was then performed on the relevant studies to determine the types of themes included in scales measuring family satisfaction in healthcare settings. The authors used these themes to develop a scale for measuring the effectiveness of pastoral care with family members. A convenience sample of chaplains that was asked to judge the usefulness of each of the scale items, rated them all, on average, to be "somewhat useful" to "very useful" for evaluating chaplains' effectiveness. The value of the scale is discussed in terms of its being a more outcome-oriented measure of effectiveness compared to typical family satisfaction instruments.     

Love as a Starting Point for Pastoral Theological Reflection

This article draws on recent work in the theology of love to propose steps toward the development of a pastoral theology of love in order to inform the practice of pastoral care. A pastoral theology of love is a necessary foundation for an ecclesial practice of pastoral care that promotes growth in love. The article defines love and addresses key issues in the theology of love, namely, human agency and the analogies that exist or do not exist between human and divine love and the concept of growth in love, or sanctification. The article concludes by proposing and sketching some key features of a pastoral theology of love for pastoral practice.     

The Fallen and the Forgotten: Henry Brooks,Howard Thurman,and All Sheroes and Heroes of Long Ago

This article results from an invitation. It is a certain reflection upon a movement in pastoral care during the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. If it is the case that typically very little historical perspectives enter pastoral care analysis, then this article attempts a corrective. The picture above invites us to think in terms of a visual metaphor. There is evidence of a pathway through the terrain toward the sea, and various plant life, big and small size lava rocks. Some appear to be standing or fallen and covered by the rising tide of the sea. Still others may not be seen at all- even with a receding sea. All co-exist within a larger, yet changing environment of things, which include sky, sand, sea and all that is invisible. Therefore, pastoral care is encouraged to pay close attention to detail and gestalt. Nothing stands alone. This article features collective, systemic and reciprocal effects, an early, perhaps invisible or yet-to-be-recognized pastoral care influence upon Edward Powell Wimberly, a prolific African American pastoral theologian. In-order to appreciate E.P. Wimberly’s contribution and see things more clearly, one needs to situate them within an interpretive frame work or enlarged and still unfolding “picture”. I argue that it takes historical perspectives and a lot of people over a period of time, seen and unseen to influence a thought-shift in an entire paradigm. But, the collective efforts of many contributors to a paradigm shift may have been overlooked or ignored, fallen and forgotten.     

Pastoral care and the people of god

Various attempts in the last twenty years have sought to understand pastoral care as a function of the congregation, yet even ardent supporters have lost sight of their own vision. This article proposes that we define pastoral care as the work of the church, tie it more closely to the suffering associated with carrying out the church's mission, and develop a model of pastoral care that will differentiate everyday untrained lay pastoral care, care by clergy and trained laypersons, and pastoral psychotherapy. It offers theological rationales and draws implications for pastoral theory.Reverend Burck is Chaplain-Supervisor and Assistant Professor of Religion and Health, Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center, 1753 West Congress Parkway, Chicago, Illinois 60612     

Discrete varieties of care in the clinical pastoral tradition: continuing the dialogue

In the current cultural context, clinically trained ministers, lay and ordained, offer themselves to troubled souls through at least three distinct varieties of assistance: pastoral care, pastoral counseling, and pastoral psychotherapy. This essay delineates three accepted disciplines, emphasizing the importance of ascertaining, and perhaps re-evaluating, the particular needs and desires of persons who are in physical, mental, or spiritual distress. "Pastoral care," "pastoral counseling," and "pastoral psychotherapy" each play an important role in fulfilling the traditional mandate for "the cure of souls."     

Coming Issues in the Pastoral Care of the Aged

In the context of a growing aging population, this paper begins with the notion that the traditional resources of pastoral care will remain relevant, cffective and basic. However, the Church must redefine its images of "successful" ministry to emphasize the inhercnt value of the gray church. Gerontological stud~es need to become integrated in the whole enterprise of theological education and should be recognized as both presenting a special opportunity for female clergy and for developing a new model of m~nistry. Discussed are three needs for adequate preparation for the pastoral care of the aged: (1) Training in group process, (2) Skills in conflict resolution, and (3) A theology of aging that rests on Grace rather than works and that separates aging as a process distinct from death and dying. Finally, the author insists upon the involvement of the aged as a prerequisite for authenticity in each of these areas.     

Pastoral Care for the Sick in a Post-Secular Age: An Ignatian Perspective

This pastoral-theology-based reflection on hospital chaplaincy,set within the horizon of the pastoral situation of Germanyin the post-secular (!) age, introduces the perspective of aconsolation-oriented ministry, as this was developed by Ignatiusof Loyola. Such a pastoral care for the sick, as integratedinto the basic offices of the church, presents a gradedmodelfor action: while human accompaniment is offered to all, spiritualministry is restricted, but realized in an ecumenically encompassingsense. Spiritual and ritual care for members of other religions,while these members are to be addressed according to the principleslaid down by Vatican II, is severely limited for reasons ofidentity and alterity. In all cases, however, Christianity ispresented as "therapeutic religion".     

Erikson's life cycle theory and images of God

Human life is a God-ordained pilgrimage by which persons travel toward ever-expanding images of God that emerge from the universal pattern of developmental crises. Using the work of Erik Erikson on the human life cycle and the work of Donald Capps on human sin, the author presents a way to conduct pastoral diagnosis and to provide pastoral care. By accurately tracing a person's images of God back to their potentially unresolved developmental crises, the pastoral caregiver can reopen opportunities for further and healthier resolution of the crises.     

Pastoral products or pastoral care? How marketplace language affects ministry in veterans hospitals

The author describes a veterans hospital context of healthcare ministry in which marketplace terminology, adopted institutionally, also impacts the Chaplain Service. He highlights specific elements of this commercialization of pastoral care, such as computerized documentation of "spiritual products" delivered in increments of ten minute units. Noting the power of language both to describe and create realities, the author suggests likely risks accompanying benefits of healthcare chaplaincy carried out on marketplace terms.     

Political Dimensions of Pastoral Care in Community Disaster Responses

All caregiving takes place in multiple political contexts and assumes or actually furthers various political agendas, whether acknowledged or not. When strategically incorporated into pastoral and spiritual care, politically responsive actions may enhance the practice of care. When disaster strikes a community, ritual engagement of the larger public context provides a significant opportunity for pastoral caregivers to function as public pastoral theologians and to influence the corporate response to communal challenges. In these circumstances of community vulnerability, pastoral caregivers and communities of faith are positioned to provide spiritual care that combines solace and safety for the victims with guidance and shaping influence on the ritual practices and rhetorical interpretations called upon to assist the community to endure, respond, and heal. This article examines some central political aspects of the pastoral caregiver’s repertoire that might further a stricken community’s ritual and rhetorical resources necessary to sustain life, share loss, reclaim goodness, and rebuild for a strong future. Drawing upon a view of lamentation as a tri-partite process of sharing anguish, interrogating causes, and reinvesting in hope, I suggest how the spiritual and pastoral caregiver may collaboratively participate in a “disaster-response matrix” that organizes corporate responses to catastrophic disaster. This article pays particular attention to macro-, meso-, and micro-level political negotiations necessary to ensure respect for diversity and shared responsibility in creating rituals, memorials, and public narratives at the onset of disaster and in its aftermath over the generations. Illustrations from the experience of religious caregivers at Columbine, Hurricane Katrina, 9/11, Aurora, Newtown, and Boston are presented to guide pastoral engagement of civil society in disruptive times.     

Understanding senile “confusion”: Sources and stages

A psychological phenomenon frequently encountered in pastoral care is senile “confusion.” Disorientation can result from sensory deprivation, sociocultural stress, or organic processes. The major cause of confusion among the elderly is dementia resulting from primary neuronal degeneration. Social, psychological, and pastoral support may reduce the degree of confusion or retard its progress toward advanced stages.     

“I Hope That I Have Not Upset Youexcl;” Reclaiming a Pastoral Voice: Theoretical Exploration Upon a Practical Case

Pastoral care is enhanced by a diversity of pastoral perspectives. This paper presents a case that contains salient pastoral care issues. Conversing with this case, I examine four different pastoral orientations in order to discuss how each uniquely interprets and evaluates the human predicament. The chosen perspectives are psychoanalysis, existential theology, process theology, and Asian theology. I conclude that the inclusion of different perspectives, rather than overwhelm the pastoral caregiver, widen the lens through which we interpret and respond to the particular needs of others.     

Seeing the Unseen: Pastoral Insights Drawn from James Turrell’s Artwork

According to Charles Sanders Peirce’s framework of semiotics, an individual’s life can be regarded as a work of art that as a sign continuously generates meaning by using various life experiences as its art materials. Here the individual plays a role both as an artist and as a viewer of his or her life. This semiotic implication of one’s life reshapes the general goal and function of pastoral care and counseling. In terms of art, the pastoral caregiver’s role is defined as that of a curator who facilitates the overall environment for aesthetic experience by helping an individual to see the unseen in his or her life as a work of art and does so in a didactic but unobtrusive way. As an example, a series of James Turrell’s art installations suggests how the role and function of the pastoral caretaker can be redefined. This aesthetic perspective also reflects the existential and psychospiritual dimensions of pastoral care and counseling.     

The Social Construction of Emotions: A New Direction in the Pastoral Work of Healing

Interviews with pastoral practitioners revealed that exploration of feelings, both personal and interpersonal, is considered the sine qua non of pastoral care and counseling. This emphasis on personal and interpersonal feelings is largely attributable to the enduring influence of Carl Rogers on contemporary pastoral care and counseling. While recognizing that Rogers was not as narrowly focused on personal and interpersonal relationships and oblivious to the larger social order than is generally assumed, I contend that he did not give sufficient attention to the fact that emotions are socially constructed and draw on recent literature on the social construction of emotions and on critical race theory to argue for a new direction in the pastoral work of healing, one that takes more adequate account of the sociocultural factors that create and sustain unhealthy emotions and that recognizes that emotions are signals about the social order.     

A systems perspective to marriage counseling

The influence of General Systems Theory on mental health disciplines and pastoral care has grown rapidly in recent years. The central concepts of a systems perspective-organization, control, and stability, and energy-provide an effective means to address organic, relational, and wholistic dimensions of marriage and marriage counselingThis article reflects research for a dissertation/project, including A Guide for Clergy.