Religious and Counseling Discourses in Clinical Practice

Abstract

The study expands the authors' previous findings to examine counseling and religious discourses more closely. Three themes were identified: value of Catholic Christian faith for life and counseling; autonomy and obedience; and healing, renewal, and the call to serve. Interview transcripts were reviewed through the lens of constructs from discourse analysis, including hegemony, analogization, and dialogism. Dialectics between the domains of counseling and religion were identified in the samples of discourses and their analyses. The results indicate the potential for integration of domains and strengthening of religious and counselor identities.