Resonance Theory as a Resource for Diakonia: A Contribution to Social Practice in the Church

In this contribution, we first explore the situation we find in our century in the field of pastoral theology. It turns out that there is a constant back and forth between “theology” on the one hand and “therapy” on the other. One of the main causes of this problem seems to be that we have decoupled God from man, Christology from pneumatology. We need a theological anthropology in which the soul regains its central place: pastoral care is care for the soul, or it is not pastoral care at all. KEYWORDS: Kerygma, therapy, hermeneutics, soul, theological anthropology

ABSTRACTThis study examines the care work of teachers employed at two schools in situations of severe deprivation. At the teachers’ places of employment, basic amenities and complementary support structures for sustaining students’ psychosocial, economic and emotional needs were absent. The focus of the article is twofold: firstly, to fathom the reasons why teachers voluntarily expressed care for impoverished students by way of providing them with food, money and counselling; and secondly, to determine the outcomes of caring on their (the teachers’) well-being. The data was generated through narrative inquiry. The narratives made visible four key influences that motivated the teachers to provide students with pastoral and academic care, namely teachers’ early life experiences, religious beliefs, students’ living conditions, and beliefs about the importance of education. The study revealed that the pastoral care and academic work of teachers in deprived schools is arduous, extensive and protracted and comes at financial and emotional cost to the teachers who chose to care. A Derridian reading of the findings suggests that pastoral care is a complex phenomenon, comprising a combination of hazards and benefits for carers that are paradoxical, ambivalent and inseparable in nature.

Pastoral care embodies the idea that schools should not limit their activities to the transmission of knowledge but should educate the whole child. This paper outlines five ‘pastoral tasks’, casework, preventive work, pastoral curriculum, community building and management, and considers how each might contribute to the five desired outcomes of Every Child Matters (ECM). Collaboration between schools and agencies, such as Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, is stressed, and self-harm is considered as an example of the kind of challenge which ECM poses for schools. A review of pastoral care in schools in the light of ECM is advocated.

In younger history pastoral care mostly has been approached by the objectivizing methods of sciences concerned with the human being. However, nowadays it should be more evident to take up again subjectivity and the theological anthropology (in its dogmatic horizon), at least under consideration of critical philosophical questioning. Pastoral care will then focus on ist central topics: will and freedom.

Embracing a positive view of mental health

(ProQuest: ... denotes non-US-ASCII text omitted.)Calvin's Company of Pastors: Pastoral Care and Emerging Reformed Church, 1536-1609 . By Scott M. Manetsch . Oxford Studies in Historical Theology. Oxford : Oxford University Press , 2013. xi + 428 pp. $74.00 cloth.Book Reviews and NotesWhat was life of a reformed pastor like in sixteenth-century Geneva? This deceptively simple question is, as Scott Manetsch demonstrates, a crucial element in understanding trajectory of Genevan Reformation. While ideas of John Calvin and his colleagues have received immense scholarly scrutiny over centuries, contours of their lives as pastors have not. Manetsch address this lacuna with a thoroughly researched, lucid account of lives and work of reformed Genevan pastors from 1536 to 1609, with particular goal of comparing work of pastorate during Calvin's lifetime with its experiences after Calvin's death in 1564. His book is based on extensive work with records of Genevan Consistory and Company of Pastors, as well as personal correspondence, published writings, personal devotionals, catechisms, and sermons of reformed Genevan clergy. Using this wealth of sources, Manetsch reconstructs daily lives of Geneva's pastors during first seven decades of Reformation, thus forwarding ongoing efforts to examine how ideals of Reformation were put into practice.This book is, in a way, a group biography of Reformed pastorate in Geneva. One of Manetsch's main goals is to elucidate ideas and assumptions that shaped identity and self-awareness, (2) in order to better understand their interactions with Genevan laity and city authorities. He begins this exploration with an eloquent recounting of Genevan Reformation, followed by an analysis of Venerable Company of Pastors, including profiles of individual ministers, an overview of their recruitment and training, and discussion of structure and functioning of company. Particularly crucial to Manetsch's undertaking is chapter 3, Pastoral Vocation, which explicates reformers' understanding of office and examines how that concept undergirded their preaching, process of ordination, and struggles with city magistrates. He then constructs a detailed picture of pastors' domestic lives, providing a vital link between theology and practice. The following chapter explores duties, illustrating Manetsch's assertion that pastoral ministry in sixteenth-century was inseparable from rigorous study and regular proclamation of Christian Scripture (124).Having laid out broader patterns of pastors' activities, chapter 6 focuses on practice of preaching, including pastors' theological principles, preaching styles, and reception of their teachings. Here Manetsch examines ways that preaching did and did not change after Calvin's death, ultimately asserting that the pulpit stood at epicenter of controversy and change in reformed Geneva (146). Chapter 7, Ministry of Moral Oversight, provides an impressive compilation of statistics on consistory's activities both before and after Calvin's death--a goldmine of information for future studies of Genevan Reformation and consistories more generally. Manetsch's primary goal here is to demonstrate, rightly, that work of consistory was a core element in Genevan ministers' work of care. …

Mainline Protestant pastors in the United States play pivotal roles in envisioning and planning changes to local congregational practices. They are highly visible and authoritative figures who must work to avoid conflicts that could splinter their churches. Often serving politically mixed laity, pastors must balance a tension between pastoral care and their own convictions. They work to avoid what one pastor called ‘parking lot conversations’, a particularly hostile form of public confrontation with congregants, which they might encounter because of their leadership or preaching. I examine two items in pastors’ tactical toolkit that allow them to advocate for institutional transformation while maintaining congregational cohesion: weekly sermons and personal conversations with congregants. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in three congregations in Michigan – Episcopalian, Presbyterian and United Church of Christ – I focus on pastoral approaches to LGBTQ+ inclusion, an issue which can cause fraught debate in certain mainline Protestant contexts. Navigating when to voice their views and when to be less confrontational, pastors often preach obliquely about LGBTQ+ issues by mentioning the already-inclusive environments their congregations provide, arguing that this is a sure sign of the church’s commitment to Christian ideals of welcoming. This approach curbs conflict and lessens the chance disgruntled parishioners will confront them. Conversely, pastors use private conversations with congregants to leverage conflict into teachable moments that can deepen the whole community’s commitments to their church. In these conversations, pastors are much more direct about their planning around the role of the church as an inclusive space.

This article is a redevelopment of my previous studies, characterizing the media genre of – and community building through – transgender video blogging. Focusing on one of the most famous video bloggers at the moment, the Canadian Julie Van Vu, I investigate new forms of transgender vlogging that embrace money making/self-commodification in a degree not seen before. Here, activism/advocacy co-exists with and goes through an explicit self-commodification. Drawing on existing research, I explore the mechanisms and characteristics of Vu as a micro-celebrity within YouTube as a platform. I suggest the concept of ‘subcultural microcelebrity’ to nuance, diversify and specify micro-celebrity as a concept and a practice. The article departs from – but also redevelops – the concept and characteristics of micro-celebrity to specify the ‘affective labour’. Micro-celebrities are expected to perform various kinds of labour, many of which are time and energy consuming but not necessarily economically profitable. Micro-celebrities must signal accessibility, availability, presence, and connectedness – and maybe most importantly authenticity – all of which presuppose and rely on some form of intimacy. I propose that intimacy as genre and as capital is deeply ingrained in the strategies, dynamics and affective labour of micro-celebrities. Intimacy is an important and necessary signifier in relation to both the form and content of the videos and the relation between the creators and their audience. Furthermore, intimacy works as an important currency within social media; thus, intimacy can be capitalized in manifold and intersecting ways, for example, for monetary purposes, social recognition and as a tool in advocacy work. The article hereby contributes to existing research on YouTube by redeveloping the concept of micro-celebrity in relation to affective labour and intimacy, analysing how these play out in new forms of transgender vlogging.

Despite an interactional analysis being able to offer valuable insight into the institutional workings of pastoral care practice, pastoral care delivery remains largely unstudied. This paper will contribute new knowledge to the field of counselling and education by offering an interactional analysis of one-to-one pastoral care provision within a primary school. Much pastoral care practice is informed by theory, often accompanied by guidelines about how to deliver pastoral care activities effectively. The pastoral carer needs to convert these guidelines into talk in order to deliver the intervention as an interactional encounter. However useful these guidelines are, they cannot show what the actual delivery of those pastoral care activities might look like in real life. Using conversation analysis, we examine video recordings of pastoral care delivery to reveal the ways in which a pastoral carer supports a child’s behaviour, social and emotional well-being. The significance of the findings is that those who provide pastoral care can see in close detail what delivery might look like as a real-life encounter, imparting valuable knowledge that can then be applied alongside theory and guidelines to enhance professional practice. Of further significance is that the findings can also show how an interactional analysis of pastoral care work can be used to demonstrate social and emotional learning and that the work being done effectively supports children.

This article discusses Donald Capps’s use of Erik H. Erikson’s life-cycle theory as the basic psychological framework for his theory of pastoral care. Capps was attracted to Erikson’s existential-psychological model, his hermeneutic approach, and his religious sensitivity. Capps’s thought develops from first exploring biblical foundations for using Eriksonian theory for pastoral care to gradually embracing certain postmodern features. The article concludes with reflections on the usefulness of Erikson’s life-cycle theory and Capps’s work for contemporary pastoral care.

When individuals share specific diseases and some characteristics, social stigma tends to arise. Should the vice occur, adversities include loss of status, receiving treatment separately, discrimination, stereotyping, and labeling. Previously, pastoral care and counseling has been used to alleviate stigmatization arising from pandemics, with the 2014-2015 Ebola outbreaks in West Africa being a recent example. However, in the wake of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), there is an increase in the incidence and prevalence of social stigma, yet a disjoint exists concerning the work of pastoral care and counseling personnel and COVID-19 stigmatization. Therefore, this paper explores the relationship between the occurrence of COVID-19 and social stigma. Other themes investigated include the effects of coronavirus disease-related social stigma on direct and indirect victims, biblical insights about suffrage in society, and some of the strategies whose implementation might counter the perceived effects of social stigma accruing from COVID-19. From the findings, the paper has established that disease-related social stigma has led to the social isolation of groups, undermined social cohesion, caused members to hide illness in fear of discrimination, and a failure to adopt healthy behaviors. Thus, to respond to these problems, three strategies ought to be implemented by professionals in pastoral care and counseling. The recommended strategies include focusing on the trend of facing fears, spreading messages of seeking the Lord (because a disease such as COVID-19 is an occasion), and the sensitization of masses that a disaster such as COVID-19 and its associated stigmatization test people’s faith and also reveal their hope.

This chapter explores participants’ experiences with creating home and making selves in their new context. Migration constitutes a rupture of home and the self as the daily routines, habits, and practices that make up identity are subject to a complete transformation. The chapter begins by examining how participants form new emotional attachments before moving on to the crafting of new selves following the loss of old selves. These processes were experienced as simultaneously destructive and liberating. Participants’ sense of multiple, complex, and even contradictory selves shifts over time. The chapter ends with a focus on inclusive spaces, particularly churches, but also other forms of service and community building, that could restore participants’ ruptured sense of belonging.

Globally, young people are a major demographic group and a key constituency in socioeconomic policy considerations. However, in a neoliberal era, the social inclusion of youth is in jeopardy. This qualitative study explored young people’s connectedness to community and opportunities for social inclusion in Newfoundland and Labrador. The perspectives of social capital, social exclusion, and sense of community provided a theoretical framework for the study. A purposive sample of 23 youth aged 15 to 24 years provided data through interviews, which we analyzed inductively, using thematic analysis. We found that young people connected to their communities through informal associations and non-profit organizations. These structures provided networks of supportive relationships and inclusive spaces, where young people felt a sense of belonging, and had opportunities for participation. Opportunities took the form of resources and activities that promoted personal growth and community building. For example, through associations and non-profit organizations, participants engaged in general educational development, entrepreneurial training, part-time and volunteer work, and advocacy. However, participants also reported some barriers to inclusion in their communities. Personal level factors, such as illness and environmental level factors, such as low-income and social stigma were barriers to inclusion. These findings provide a basis for policymakers and practitioners to promote youth social inclusion in Newfoundland and Labrador.

This paper explores the audience perceptions of the benefits of hosting drag shows at a mid-sized southern university in the USA. Amidst increasing political hostility toward the LGBTQ+ community, these events serve not only as entertainment but also as crucial educational and inclusive spaces on campus. By assessing feedback from three different drag events hosted during the Spring 2024 semester, this paper demonstrates how drag performances may foster learning, promote LGBTQ+ visibility, and enhance student well-being. The findings suggest that drag shows are not mere spectacles; they may be transformative experiences that facilitate a deeper understanding of LGBTQ+ issues among students, create safe spaces for self-expression, and strengthen community ties. This paper argues that such events are an effective tool for engaging students in meaningful ways beyond traditional classroom settings.

This qualitative study explores the multifaceted experiences of South African pastors during the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on the forced adaptations in ministry, the erosion of pastoral authority, and the disruption of community life. Conducted between 2020 and 2022 in the Vaal Triangle area, the research aimed to describe the shift in ministry norms, analyze the impact of limited physical gatherings on fellowship (koinonia), and reflect on the theological implications of a digitally-connected church. A sample of 25 pastors from diverse denominations (Methodist, Roman Catholic, Baptist, Pentecostal, and Independent) was selected using purposive and convenience sampling. Data were gathered through in-depth, one-on-one key informant interviews (KIIs) and analyzed using a six-step thematic analysis framework adapted from Braun and Clarke (2006). The findings reveal that pandemic-induced lockdown restrictions led to a significant loss of koinonia and a resulting failure in effective discipleship of new converts, as the essential in-person relational aspects could not be replicated online. The forced migration to digital platforms created a "one-stop shop" environment for worship, which exposed churches to heightened membership instability; this facilitated church-switching as congregants compared preachers and transferred loyalty. This, coupled with the difficulty of pastoral oversight and a resulting feeling of pastoral alienation among clergy, introduced intense subtle competition and severely tested the limits of pastoral authority. Overall, the study highlights the painful process of forced adaptation and underscores the urgent need for a resilient and adaptable hybrid ecclesiology that leverages digital reach while intentionally cultivating the irreplaceable value of physical fellowship and interpersonal pastoral care. This empirical study offers a vital contribution by providing qualitative insights into the dynamics of church ministry during a period of forced digital adaptation. The findings challenge the church to fundamentally re-examine its mission in a rapidly digitizing world and to develop resilient strategies for pastoral care and community building that extend beyond physical structures.