Pastoral Theological Implications of the Aging Process

Pastoral care of the aged must deliberately attend to spiritual-theological issues involved in the aging process. As clinical, empirical, and practical pastoral experiences demonstrate, these spiritual-theological problems are as varied as the range of overall problems faced by the elderly. In an attempt to focus on major issues, however, it may be helpful to examine the three epochs of aging i.e., young~ldm, iddle-old, and old-old, in order to determine the spiritual and theological issues which are particularly relevant to each epoch. This paper proposes that each of the three developmental epochs has a main spiritual-theological concem which can be expressed in a question: young-old: "What shall I do with my life?"; middleaid: "What about my dying?"; old-old: "Why must I suffer so?" Pastoral ministry is called to further examine the validity of these assertions and draw practical applications in response to these spiritual-theological issues which face older persons.