Enlivening Models of Pastoral Care: Relating Theory to the Complex Life Experiences Depicted in Fiction

In this paper, the tradition in pastoral psychology of relating theoretical models to the specific practice of psychotherapy will be examined by using new hermeneutics to understand how psychological and theological studies are inter-related in pastoral psychology. The hazard of this tradition is that psychological languages being used in technical ways may arise out of a mechanistic orientation to the world. The benefits of using fiction as an experiential grounding for theory will be described. Two novels, Paradise news, by David Lodge and The autobiography of my mother, by Jamaica Kincaid will be employed to illustrate how using fiction can enliven models of pastoral care by pushing pastoral psychologists to interface imaginative language with conceptual language from several disciplines.