AN EXPLORATION OF SPIRITUAL CARE AS CREATIVE INTERRUPTION

Abstract

Pastoral theology and care has been profoundly shaped by a Christian theological anthropology with deep roots in Enlightenment conceptions of the autonomous and rational subject as the center of the moral universe. My paper will explore a theology and practice of spiritual care through the lens of creative interruption as a generative metaphor for engaging the cultural and religious other. An exploration of creative interruption as a guiding theology of care will draw from the writings of Emmanuel Levinas who argues against systems of knowledge that seek to make the other an image of ourselves. A Levinasian articulation of the other de-centers the autonomous, rational self and has potential to represent the best of chaplaincy and advance both its theory and practice. A consideration of Levinasian conceptions of alterity and the face of the other; the saying and the said in the patient encounter; and the humanizing work of making the invisible visible will shed light on an intercultural and interreligious ethic of care. Gordon Kaufman’s reconstruction of God as creativity will contribute to a conception of care as a creative and interruptive coming-to-being. Creative interruption as a guiding metaphor invites a consideration of the interruptive movement and mystery of creativity that cannot ultimately be appropriated into totalizing theological understandings or conceptions of care.