Pastoral care from the pulpit: preaching as therapy for belief sickness

Abstract

ABSTRACT It is argued that an important function in pastoral preaching is facilitating self-doctoring for belief sickness. Belief sickness is caused by an element in a personal worldview that is unrealistic, unhelpful, and distorted, and which leads to significant emotional and spiritual distress. There is a tradition in philosophy, beginning with Plato and continuing to the present day, in which the role of the philosopher is construed, in part, as providing a cure for illness in the soul. Taking a lead from Kierkegaard, self-doctoring in pastoral preaching is associated with the method of throwing up competing perspectives to stimulate reflection. Preaching methods such as the story-telling approach, the roundtable, and paradoxical preaching are identified as aligning in a general way with the Kierkegaardian technique. A sermon outline is offered that demonstrates the technique in practice. Though the concentration is on method, the vitally important role of the Word-Spirit partnership in inner transformation and healing is also discussed.