Chapter 10. A Liberal Protestant Pastoral Theological Approach and the God Image

Abstract

SUMMARY This chapter explores the role of God images in recovery from sexual violence, using an interdisciplinary hermeneutical method that draws upon postmodern approaches to knowledge and assumes that knowledge—psychological and theological—is socially constructed. This interdisciplinary method has been developed by liberal Protestant practical theologians, and it consists of a collaborative dialogue between relevant theological and psychological studies. In reflecting upon the process of change that occurred in the case study presented in this chapter, I draw upon a psychodynamic understanding of God representations (Rizzuto, 1979) and a theological understanding of religious symbols (Neville, 1996) because these theoretical perspectives meet my criteria of contextual relevance, interdisciplinary meaningfulness, and pragmatic usefulness. These criteria provide a way to assess the contextual truthfulness of religious and psychological knowledge within the framework of postmodern approaches to knowledge. This chapter illustrates how such approaches to knowledge can be utilized within the traditions of liberal Protestant pastoral theology, in pastoral psychotherapy with victims of violence.