When “Living Stories” Encounter the Living Word

This article focuses on biblical forms (psalms, proverbs, and parables) and story genres (inspirational, paradoxical, and miraculous) that inform the pastoral counseling process in ways that make the stories of our lives become more vivid. It does so primarily by examining Donald Capps’ contributions in Living Stories and Biblical Approaches to Pastoral Counseling by studying the living stories in juxtaposition to the biblical forms.     

STRUCTURES OF EVIL ENCOUNTERED IN PASTORAL COUNSELING

This essay explores some relationships between social structures or systems and the internal psychological structures or systems of individuals. After defining evil, pastoral counseling, and structures or systems, I present examples of persons affected by social systems of power who have sought counseling. I present a form of counseling known as Internal Family System Therapy (IFS) and show with an extended example how I have worked with clients using this approach. In this process the client is guided to use “Self‐leadership” in healing and transforming inner conflict between various subpersonalities or “parts.” I then compare the IFS approach to one used by mediators in community conflict transformation and peacebuilding.     

Telling a “baby story”: Mothers narrating their pre-schoolers' past across two cultural contexts

Mothers from two middle-class contexts from Berlin, Germany (n = 35), and Delhi, India (n = 28) told a baby story to their 3-year olds about an event that had happened during the children's first year of life. The contexts represented two cultural models: the model of psychological autonomy (Berlin) and the model of autonomy-relatedness (Delhi). We investigated the culture-specific functions of this reminiscing task as reflected in the structure, content and specificity of the stories. The stories in both contexts were minimally interactive and the children contributed few elaborations themselves. Stories told by the Berlin mothers were longer, and more specific. Mothers in both contexts were similarly elaborative relative to being repetitive. The stories were highly child-centred in both contexts but even more child-centred for Delhi. Importantly, maternal narrations from the Berlin context were embedded in a frame story that characterised the child's individual past; stories thus constructed “exclusive baby stories”. Most stories told by the Delhi mothers had no frame story but instead were about what the child used to do as a baby in general; they thus constructed “routine baby stories”. Results are interpreted in the view of the underlying self, social and directive functions of this reminiscing task.     

Reciprocal maturities: Spirit and psyche in pastoral counseling and spiritual direction

This article uses a model for integrating spiritual and psychological maturity (Conn, 1989) in theological anthropology to contend that there is a reciprocal relationship not only between spiritual and psychological maturity but also between pastoral counseling and spiritual direction. I review Christian spirituality in terms of maturity in relationship: to self, to others, and to God. Next is an examination of the prevailing attitude in pastoral counseling toward spirituality and spiritual direction. Then Conn's integration is assessed — of spirituality with psychology, of spiritual direction with pastoral counseling — as a combination of spiritual and hermeneutical perspectives on the maturing self.     

The Theological Contributions of Bishop K. H. Ting to Christian/Pastoral Counseling

As China enters an era of urbanization and change, mental health issues are increasingly becoming a concern of the Christian church. Pastoral counseling is taking new shape as people of faith respond to those in their midst in need of care. Bishop K. H. Ting, a long-time leader of the Chinese church, has stressed the importance of an indigenous Chinese Christianity. This article is based on an examination of Bishop Ting’s theological writing with the aim of eliciting themes that might be foundational in the construction of inherently Chinese models of pastoral counseling. Based on a survey of his work, six themes emerge with particular importance for pastoral counseling: the Three-Self church, God is Love, the Cosmic Christ, ethical responsibility, theological reconstruction, and religion in society. These themes are explored within their uniquely Chinese context and suggestions for application to the practice of pastoral counseling are discussed. Original publication: Wang, P. (Ed.) (2006). Seeking Truth in Love. Nanjing, China: Nanjing Seminary Press. This essay was originally published in a collection of essays honoring Bishop K. H. Ting on his 90th birthday. Bishop Ting has been the head of the Chinese Protestant church for over five decades and his leadership has profoundly shaped Chinese theology and church life. The purpose of this essay is to explore how his collected theological writings might inform a uniquely Chinese approach to pastoral counseling. This article is published with the permission of the original publisher.     

Walking the yellow brick road

This article uses the story of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (L. F. Baum, 1900) as a metaphor for exploring career counseling issues related to self‐deception, loss, and the search for the “all‐knowing” expert. The dynamics of the story can be applied to both counseling practice and counselor training. Cross‐cultural issues are also considered.     

Family counseling: Basic concepts for ministers

Much of the time that ministers spend counseling is taken with family related issues. Yet many ministers find themselves in the difficult position of having little or no formal education or training in family counseling. This article deals with some basic issues related to problematic families and pastoral counseling that are meant to bridge the gap between having no formal training in family counseling and having advanced training and education.     

Wisdom in Pastoral Care and Counseling: What Does it Entail?

The purpose of this article is to suggest richer potential meanings of spiritual wisdom and theological reflection in response to a critical reading of Pamela Cooper-White's book, Shared wisdom: Use of the self in pastoral care and counseling.     

Biblical models in pastoral counseling

This paper contributes to current discussions regarding the development of Biblically-informed methods of pastoral counseling. It identifies three Biblical models of pastoral counseling and shows that each has its own particular understanding of the process of personal change and each invites a different understanding of the counseling task. The paper further contends that two of these models (called thepsalmic andproverbic) are favored by the pastoral counseling approaches that have dominated the field for some years. It argues, therefore, for greater attention to the third model (theparabolic).     

Pastoral counseling: In search of a new paradigm

Contemporary pastoral counseling includes three paradigmatic elements: the image of the counselor as priest; the location of the human problem at the organismic-environmental interface; and the diagnosis of the human problem as alienation from self and others. These assumptions ought to be supplemented by the image of the counselor as prophet, by location of the human problemalso at the interface of the self and the ultimate, and by a diagnosis of the human problem as alienation from transcendence. To be adequate as a response to the total human situation, pastoral counseling theory must be expanded to include consideration of the transcendent dimension of human existence, and pastoral counseling method and technique must be modified to overcome alienation from the ultimate by facilitating the actualization of transcendence.His article is a revision of the keynote address he presented to the American Association of Pastoral Counselors at their annual meeting in May 1976.     

From Mystical Moment to Therapeutic Method: Connections Between Psychology of Religion and Pastoral Counseling

Argues for a connection between psychology of religion, represented by William James, and pastoral counseling, especially as informed by the therapeutic methods of the brief therapy centers in Palo Alto and Milwaukee. Ludwig Wittgenstein, the philosopher, is seen as the key bridge figure between the two. Inspired by the film Six Degrees of Separation, the proposal is made for connective links between the philosophical and experimental interests of Benjamin Blood and William James in the mystical experience, Ludwig Wittgenstein's philosophical method in the Tractatus, and the therapeutic methods of Paul Watzlawick and Steve de Shazer. This transmission process is considered similar to that which occurs in religion itself, as transcendent experiences are routinized through liturgical and sacramental practices. The essay is viewed as an exercise in pastoral theological method.     

Toward the re‐enchantment of psychotherapy: Stories as container

Abstract

Storytelling by a therapist to clients may serve to increase clients’ ability to bear pain, to increase self‐complexity, and expand clients’ senses of the allowable. A model delineating the therapeutic impact of therapist storytelling in psychotherapy is proposed. Stories may change clients’ selves so that they may accommodate traumatic experiences and internal complexity. Stories increase clients’ capacity to tolerate painful experience and therefore serve as a container of tragic life experiences. The artistry of therapeutic story selection is defined as choosing stories consonant with clients’ strengths, rather than with the nature of the trauma. The power of story‐listening to alter consciousness in pleasant ways (storystoned) increases its usefulness as an intervention that is neither anxiety provoking nor re‐traumatizing.     

Spirit and self

This article is the second in a series of two on the topic of Christian anthropology as it relates to pastoral theology. In this article I shall continue to try to address some fundamental issues in the development of a Christian anthropology in a manner which is consistent with, and grows out of, the bedrock of the Christian tradition about human beings, and, when correlated with some modern reflections on the nature of the self, can prove useful in providing a relatively consistent theory of human life for pastoral care and counseling and other aspects of practical theology. First, a conception of spirit will be presented, as representing a central motif of the Christian tradition's understanding of human beings. This conception of spirit will then be discussed in relation to a conception of self which was developed in the first essay, The Self, Its Vicissitudes and Possibilities: An Essay in Theological Anthropology, published inPastoral Psychology (Lapsley, 1986).     

Ken Wilber's Transpersonal Psychology: An Introduction and Preliminary Critique

Ken Wilber is unquestionably the leading figure in the developing field of Transpersonal Psychology, and his work deserves serious engagement by pastoral theologians and pastoral counselors who seek to find their place in today's postmodern, post-Christian culture. This article summarizes the key concepts of Wilber's model of Transpersonal Psychology, provides an elementary pastoral and theological critique of his ideas, and suggests contributions that Wilber's thought can make to the field of pastoral theology and pastoral counseling.     

Human Rights and the Defense of Liberal Democracy

In recent issues of the Journal of Religious Ethics (2006, 2007), David Little has defended the contemporary regime of international human rights against what he thinks of as the relativizing influences of the genealogical “just‐so” story told by Jeffrey Stout in his Democracy and Tradition (2004). I argue that Stout is correct about just‐so stories, and that Little does not go far enough in his reclamation of liberalism against Stout's “new traditionalists.” The main weaknesses of Little's approach are his insistence on the idea that human rights are to be thought of as natural rights, and that these in turn are to be thought of as self‐evident and self‐justifying. I argue that they are neither: they come to us via a Stoutian just‐so story, and that as part of a broader reclamation of liberalism, they can continue to serve as the basis for the kind of international liberal constitutionalism that Little advocates.     

Remarriage Among the Elderly: Characteristics Relevant to Pastoral Counseling

ABSTRACT

Family counseling has long been an important aspect of pastoral counseling. With recent trends toward increasing remarriage among older persons, pastoral family counseling will take on an additional dimension. This study provides information concerning motivation and attitudes toward remarriage, behavior during the interim period, adjustment to remarriage and the impact of remarriage on family relationships.     

A Story of Her Own: Hester Lynch Piozzi's Autobiography

This essay examines the autobiography of Hester Lynch Piozzi and contextualizes her story within eighteenth-century ideologies of gender and aging. From a narrative understanding of identity, autobiographical writing serves as one of the many stories that constitute an individual's identity. This reading of Piozzi's account finds that it functions both as an act of reminiscing and as an effort to give meaning to life that was often misunderstood. Considering Piozzi as a woman who lived most of her life outside of the social and cultural expectations for a middle class female of her era, this essay suggests the importance of listening to and retelling the stories of others as well as our own.     

The Cocreation of Crazy Patchworks: Becoming Rhizomatic in Systemic Therapy

In the field of systemic therapy, there has been much discussion recently about the narrative self. This concept refers to the idea that the self is narratively constructed in and through the stories which someone tells about him/herself. The story is thereby not only viewed as a metaphor for selfhood: Selfhood is not compared to a story, it is a story. But what kind of story are we talking about here? If the self is a story, what does that story look like? These questions are explored in this article. Starting from the possibilities and limitations of traditional and postmodern visions on the self as a story, an alternative vision is illustrated. By considering the self as a rhizomatic story, we not only create a useful view of the way narrative selfhood is constructed within a therapy context, but we also stimulate therapists to coconstruct—together with their clients—patchworks of self‐stories. By using story fragments of our own practice, we illustrate the rhizomatic thinking and its possibilities in therapy.     

What Makes Care Pastoral?

This essay argues for including two principal foci in both research and practice within pastoral theology. These foci include the care of souls (soul care) and care offered against the backdrop of “the Christian story.” The distinctiveness of pastoral care, as compared with other types of care, is also discussed.     

Perspectives from the Second Generation of Pastoral Counselors

The author, representing the second generation of pastoral counselors, reviews and responds to Susan E. Myers-Shirk’s book on the early history of the pastoral counseling movement, entitled, Helping the Good Shepherd: Pastoral Counselors in a Psychotherapeutic Culture 1925–1975. Among other observations, the author comments on the importance and lasting influence of Howard Clinebell and the relationship between pastoral counseling and Christian counseling.