Pastoral Assessment Research Articles

Integrated rural socio-economic vulnerability analysis in Lampung Province

One of the common characteristics of rural areas is their vulnerability to socio-economic and environmental shocks. Therefore, rural development policies should consider these features to take full advantage of the benefits of rural development. This study aims to develop a pastoral assessment based on the TOPSIS-Etropy-Inhomogeneity Method. This research was conducted in Lampung Province using data at the regency level. The data uses village data from the 2018 Village Potential Survey (PODES). The results show that rural areas' exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity factors play an essential role in rural development regarding vulnerability and resilience. Pesisir Barat, Mesuji, and Tulang Bawang Regencies are highly susceptible to low adaptation factors such as difficult access to health centers, inadequate credit facilities from the government, quiet village anticipation and mitigation, and a lack of security systems. The lowest vulnerabilities are in Tanggamus and North Lampung Regencies with common sensitivity factors, where people with malnutrition, persons with disabilities, households living in slums, and the habit of not using river water or the like for drinking or cooking have lower scores. In addition, other factors contribute to vulnerability, and these factors should be considered in rural development policies

A public pastoral assessment of the interplay between ‘she was created inferior’ and cultural perceptions of women by Christian men in Zimbabwe as accessory to gender-based violence

The notion woman were created ‘inferior’ and its interplay with the negative cultural perceptions of women by Christian men arguably act as an accessory to gender-based violence (GBV) in the church. Hence, there is a need for the church to rethinks and continually discerns the implications of the creation of man and woman in Genesis 1:26–27 and 2:18. The following question arise: Does the creation of man and woman in Genesis assume women inferiority? What is the interplay between the notion ‘she was created inferior’ and negative cultural perceptions of women? How could the church interrogate this interplay to improve gender relations within church and local cultural contexts? This article utilises a public pastoral care approach as a theoretical lens that the church could employ to address women inferiority as a form of GBV. Firstly, the article examines the interplay between ‘she was created inferior’ and negative cultural gender relations in church that fan GBV. Secondly, it assesses Genesis 1:26–27; 2:18 and 3:1–6 in the context of man and woman creation to discern God’s ideal plan for gender relations. Thirdly, the article establishes how a positive conception of Genesis 1 and 2 could transform certain cultural understandings of women that fan GBV in church. Fourthly, the article proposes public pastoral care roles for the church to mitigate the perception of women inferiority as GBV in church and community. Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: The article considers sociocultural factors that cause GBV and evaluates the phenomenon from a theological perspective to develop GBV ecclesiological interventions. Thus, it considers GBV from a socio-theological and biblical framework. Accordingly, it uses an interdisciplinary approach.

Spirit possession: Perspectives on pastoral assessment and care

Spirit possession: Perspectives on pastoral assessment and care

Spirit possession: Perspectives on pastoral assessment and care

Spirit possession: Perspectives on pastoral assessment and care

Struggling with Our Racism: White Progressive Christians and Lacan

The article offers a psychological and pastoral assessment of white racism in white progressive Christian congregations, critiquing the tendency of such communities to engage structural racism while remaining silent about their own psychic investments in white supremacy. Through the psychoanalytic lens of Jacques Lacan and critical race theorists’ analysis of whiteness as the master signifier, the article engages the author’s own experiences with racism and anti-racist work in the classroom and in worship to offer ‘struggle’ as a redefinition of the pastoral task of healing in the context of unearthing white progressive racism. The article closes with liturgical and confessional routes to begin such a struggle.

Shared Wisdom: Use of the Self in Pastoral Care and Counseling (Person, Culture, and Religion Group, American Academy of Religion, November 18, 2005)

This article summarizes the method of pastoral assessment and theological reflection detailed in Shared Wisdom, with particular attention to pastoral counselors’ countertransference or intersubjective “use of the self” as a tool for empathic understanding of clients. A model of multiplicity of mind, subjectivity, and God is advanced in contrast to more traditional views. The article concludes with an appeal for messiness, complexity, and kenosis in both psychology and theology.

Pastoral hermeneutics and the challenge of a global economy: care to the living human Web.

The author discusses the relationship between a pastoral hermeneutics and the current social context as determined by international communication and globalization. He explores the influence of telecommunications on the human quest for meaning and the implication of this for pastoral care and counseling. A paradigm shift is proposed in terms of care to the living human web. A pastoral assessment which interprets the undergirding philosophy and belief system of globalization and its influence on human dignity is suggested; and a pastoral ministry which takes up its prophetic task and voices the needs of people in terms of a "globalization from below" is explicated.

Pastoral Assessment in Hospital Ministry: A Conversational Approach

(2002). Pastoral Assessment in Hospital Ministry: A Conversational Approach. Chaplaincy Today: Vol. 18, No. 2, pp. 5-13.

The Discipline for Doing Spiritual Care: Variations on a Theme

SUMMARY This article describes the writer's introduction to The Discipline and his decision to utilize selected aspects of it in direct care and in an educational milieu. The first section describes adaptation of the Profile (Concepts of Holy, Meaning, Hope, and Community) in the writer's work with addicted persons on a Recovery Center. The second section presents the employment of this Profile as a way to introduce CPE interns to the art of pastoral assessment.

Metaphoric theology and God images in a hermeneutics for pastoral care and counselling

Because of the recent development in pastoral care, a hermeneutic model is proposed. Metaphors in pastoral care and counselling are embedded in the life stories of parishioners. As an interpreter of Stories/stories, it is the diagnostic task of the pastor to make a pastoral assessment of the meaning and significance of these stories in terms of God images. In order to do that, the pastoral issues regarding encounter (partnership, companionship, commitment and intimacy) have been linked to the following pastoral metaphors in Scripture: shepherd, servant, wisdom and paraclete. With regard to metaphoric theology, God as Friend is our choice for a pastoral encounter which takes the notion of salvation seriously.

PASTORAL ASSESSMENT IN THE CONGREGATIONAL GENRE

(1991). PASTORAL ASSESSMENT IN THE CONGREGATIONAL GENRE. Journal of Pastoral Theology: Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 74-92.

A Faith Development/Self-Development Model for Pastoral Assessment

Details and recommends an assessment model based on the faith development theory of James Fowler and the self development theory of Robert Kegan. Provides pastoral diagnostic criteria in the areas of symbolic communication, in styles of community, and for style-specific pastoral care. Offers a brief case to illustrate one part of the model.

Personal and professional integrity in relation to pastoral assessment

Though concerns about personal integrity have led some to de-emphasize the role of assessment and the pastor's professional viewpoint in pastoral care, as re-examined here these same concerns call for a recognition of the vital connection between professional and personal integrity. The relationship between personal and professional integrity as they shape pastoral assessment is analyzed in terms of respect, encounter, and anticipation. The relationship of a theology of hope or anticipation to the predictive validity of pastoral assessment presents a challenging agenda for pastoral ministry today.

The Dynamics of Depression in Contemporary Town and Country: Pastoral Assessment and Response

The Dynamics of Depression in Contemporary Town and Country: Pastoral Assessment and Response