Pastoral Theological Perspective Research Articles

Behind Our I’s: Grief and Loss in the Poetry of Li-Young Lee

This article uses Kenneth R. Mitchell and Herbert Anderson’s (1983) six modalities of grieving as presented in Donald Capps’ (1993) The Poet’s Gift to bring a pastoral theological perspective to bear on Li-Young Lee’s Behind My Eyes (2008), a collection of thirty-nine poems. In specifically focusing on Lee’s poem “To Hold,” it makes the case for a seventh grieving modality, that of preemptive loss. Employing Mitchell and Anderson’s distinction between faithful and unfaithful grieving, it argues that preemptive loss is an unfaithful form or expression of grieving, and notes the irony and sadness in this regard, as this unfaithful response to grief is informed by what is widely considered to be a faithful Judeo–Christian perspective, rooted in the inescapable sinfulness of humanity.

Self Psychology from the Perspective of Pastoral Theology: Its Focus on Relationality and Normality

Self Psychology from the Perspective of Pastoral Theology: Its Focus on Relationality and Normality

Organicity and Pastoral Care: Theological Interrelationships

Reconsiders the “clerical paradigm” attributed to Friedrich Schleiermacher, along with his discarded image of the organic unity of theological disciplines. Uses a case study from the writings of Helen Flanders Dunbar to illustrate this organic unity and potential for discourse from a feminist pastoral theological perspective.

COVENANTS AND PARTNERSHIPS: PASTORAL COUNSELING WITH WOMEN IN LESBIAN RELATIONSHIPS

Several years ago I invited a group of seminary students who self-identified as lesbians or bisexuals to my home for conversation. I explained that I had been approached about writing a book for pastoral counselors who worked with women in lesbian relationships. After sharing some of my initial thoughts, the discussion quickly shifted to their concerns about what is important for pastoral counselors to know about lesbian relationships. Many of these women were strong in their feminist perspectives and struggled with traditional understandings of religion and the institutional church. The conversation was lively and passionate. Initially the students asked why I was undertaking such a project. They were not concerned about my integrity or my underlying motives for writing the book, but were perplexed by other questions: Why would lesbians who feel excluded from the church or who have difficulties relating to traditional patriarchal religion approach a pastoral counselor for care and counseling? What would make women who love women trust that pastoral caregivers could hear the depth of their pain, struggle, or concern? Do the faith traditions out of which pastoral counselors come have anything to offer to women in lesbian partnerships? The students were baffled, not by the subject of the book, but by its relevance for the audience of pastoral care specialists. Eventually several women acknowledged that they would have been helped by pastoral care specialists who were sensitive to their issues. Believing that many women struggle with issues of sexuality and spirituality, faith and lesbian identity, I began to pull together a book proposal that would speak to pastoral counselors about the complexities of lesbian relationships. The desire to be in conversation with the language and resources of the Judeo-Christian tradition led me to work from a pastoral theological perspective. My hope is that this work explicitly benefits those pastoral counselors who counsel women in lesbian relationships. If it accomplishes this task, the book will also benefit those women who venture forth and take the risk of approaching pastoral care specialists.

A Pastoral Perspective on the Jackson-Carman Controversy, 1908-1910

In the I909-10 academic year, a furious controversy arose in the Faculty of Theology of Victoria University (in the University of Toronto) when Rev. George Jackson stated his support of higher criticism as a method for understanding and explaining the Bible. The ensuing confrontation between modernists and traditionalists was so intense that it divided the Methodist church and stirred up passions in the general public which found expression in newspaper editorials and articles. These events have already been carefully chronicled by several historians. However, I would like to offer a new insight into that conflict from a two-dimensional, pastoral-theological perspective. First, I plan to use a fresh combination of pastoral tools, blending historical research with the insights of cultural anthropology. Second, I will argue through this method the proposition that at the heart of the conflict was the symbolic role of the Bible in the life of the Methodist church and in society generally.

Pastorale sorg aan beswaardes en ongeduldiges met die oog op die opbou van die gemeente

Pastoral care for the objectors and the impatient: a church growth perspective The aim of this article is to develop a pastoral theological perspective to a recent pastoral problem. This problem is the growing polarization within churches (with the focus on the Dutch Reformed Church) in South Africa today due to theological, church policy, social, economical and political factors. These factors are outlined and analysed systematically. Special attention is paid to the two poles - the objectors and the impatient. The "objector" is described as the church member who experiences an increasing concern and impasse with the church regarding new directions that are followed, and which are not correct according to his convictions and perceptions. The "impatient" is described as a church member who experiences an Increasing impasse with the church because according to him the church is not going far enough in concretizing the full consequences of church policy (as spelled out in Church and Society for example). The nature, symptoms and needs of both are examined and guidelines for a directed pastoral care are proposed.

The possible connection between ?private speech? and prayer

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the psychological origins of prayer through a preliminary examination of certain aspects of social and cognitive development in early childhood. Specifically, it is the thesis of this essay that the phenomenon of “private speech” in early childhood can tell us something about prayer activity as it occurs in older persons. It is not the intention of this essay to present a detailed or complete theology of prayer from the perspective of pastoral theology or pastoral care. This essay is a prolegomena to the future study of the origins of prayer as social communication and personal regulation.