Spiritual Counselors Research Articles

Entrances and Exits: Performing the Psalms in Goscelin's "Liber confortatorius"

In about 1080 the young English nun Eva decided to step up her religious com mitment and become a recluse. Apparently without discussing her move with any one, she secretly left her convent, the prestigious royal abbey of Wilton, and crossed to Angers, where she joined what appears to have been an established community of anchoresses attached to a church there. Her former teacher and mentor, the monk, hagiographer, and musician Goscelin of Saint-Bertin, learned of her departure after some delay. His Liber confortatorius, datable to about 1082/ 83, is by far the most personal and most original text in his considerable oeuvre, expressing deep personal grief about Eva's departure.1 It is a book of spiritual advice, in the tradition of Jerome and Ambrose, or more recent masters like John of Fecamp and Anselm, and anticipating later and more familiar anchoritic texts like Aelred of Rievaulx's De institutione inclusarum and the Ancrene Wisse. It is an anthology of texts and excerpts that Goscelin and Eva both valued. It is a guide to meditation. It is also a personal letter, a lament, a consolation, and self consolation. One of the exciting things about the Liber confortatorius, apart from its per sonal engagement and its sometimes disconcerting glimpses of more than just spiritual attachment, is precisely its early date. Goscelin tends to anticipate ideas and practices that are familiar to us from the later Middle Ages, and it is often surprising to find them in the 1080s. And, as is often the case with letters of spiritual counsel, one has the impression of watching someone's private theology unfold-not so much original thought as a personal mix of reflections and de votions. Some religious practices that later in the Middle Ages gelled into standard usage or hardened into prescriptive rules are offered as personal habits, an exchange of ideas, suggestions, shoptalk along the lines of I do it like or here is something you might want to try. For instance, the Little Office of the Virgin, not exactly referred to in this text but certainly implied, had evidently been around in personal, voluntary, or local usage some two centuries before it became near-universal monastic practice in the twelfth century and a centerpiece of lay devotion with the development of the book of hours.2 Goscelin's comments on

The Affirmation of Charismatic Authority

The True Buddha School (TBS) is one of a set of new expressions of Buddhism that have arisen in Taiwan in the decades since World War II. It is a version of Esoteric Buddhism, following a path much closer to Tibetan Buddhism, rather than either the Ch'an or Pure Land Buddhisms that have dominated Chinese Buddhist groups for the past few centuries. It is headed by Lu Sheng-yen (b.1945) who began his religious career as an independent Daoist spiritual counsellor in Taichung, the large city in the centre of this island nation. In this paper I will introduce the True Buddha School and discuss this movement in relation to theories of charismatic leadership.

Death in traditional Bulgarian culture

AbstractLife and death were once inextricably linked in Bulgarian culture: healers of the body were also spiritual leaders in their communities. In the days of the ancient Greeks, the healer worked to soften suffering and stave off death, while the spiritual counsellor sought to understand suffering and help make death meaningful. The twentieth century saw the growing separation of medicine and religious beliefs and practice. Yet the two realms are still intertwined, as a new body of research on spirituality and health is demonstrating. Because relieving suffering is more than just relieving pain, some students of medicine in some countries are learning to take spiritual as well as medical histories of their patients. A spiritual history must take account of the culture in which it arises. Here the author draws on the Pagan and Christian beliefs affecting perceptions of death in Bulgarian culture. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Healing Rites and the Transformation of Life: Observations and Insights from within the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes Evangelical Lutheran Worship, pew edition (Minneapolis; Augsburg Fortress, 2006), 271. Martin Luther, “The Babylonian Captivity of the Church (1520),” Luther's Works, Vol. 36, ed. Abdel Ross Wentz (Philadelphia; Fortress Press, 1959), 121–123; and “To Severin Schulze (June 1, 1545),” Luther: Letter of Spiritual Counsel, ed. and trans. Theodore G. Tappert (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1955), 52. Occasional Services: A companion to Lutheran Book of Worship (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House; Philadelphia: Board of Publication, Lutheran Church in America, 1982). The Occasional Services from the Service Book and Hymnal (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1962), 33. Paul R. Nelson, “Healing Rites for Serious Chronic Illness in the North American Cultural Context,” in Baptism, Rites of Passage, and Culture, ed. S. Anita Stauffer (Geneva: Lutheran World Federation, 1998), 98–100. Nelson, “Healing Rites,” 99. ELW, pew edition, 276–78. The ELW rite was preceded by a provisional rite for healing in Life Passages: Marriage, Healing, and Funeral, Renewing Worship 4 (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 2002), 23–39. Evangelical Lutheran Worship, leaders' edition (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 2006), 42. ELW, pew edition, 273. Ibid., 276. ELW, leaders' edition, 661–662. ELW, pew edition, 277. Life Passages, 24. Gordon Lathrop, “Baptismal Ordo and Rites of Passage in the Church,” Baptism, Rites of Passage, and Culture, ed. S. Anita Stauffer (Geneva: Lutheran World Federation, 1998), 45. ELW, pew edition, 273. Ibid., 276. ELW, leaders' edition, 42. ELW, pew edition, 277. Ibid., 276. Occasional Services (1982), 99. Nelson, “Healing Rites,” 102; for the comparison to older rites, see pp. 97–99, 102. Dietrich Bonfhoeffer, Spiritual Care, trans. Jay C. Rochelle (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1985), 56. Anscar J. Chupungco,“Baptism, Marriage, Healing, and Funerals: Principles and Criteria for Inculturation,” Baptism, Rites of Passage, and Culture, ed. S. Anita Stauffer (Geneva: Lutheran World Federation, 1998), 65. Additional informationNotes on contributorsThomas H. SchattauerThomas H. Schattauer is Professor of Liturgics and Dean of the chapel atWartburg Theological Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa. He is contributing editor ofInside Out: Worship in an Age of Mission,published by Fortress Press.

Skaggs, R. (2004). Music: Keynote of the human spirit. Baltimore, MD: PublishAmerica. 189 pages, ISBN 1-4137-4601-2. $19.95

Skaggs, R. (2004). Music: Keynote of the human spirit. Baltimore, MD: PublishAmerica. 189 pages, ISBN 1-4137-4601-2. $19.95. well-written book is a rich resource about music's power to expand human consciousness and promote healing. The author, Ruth Skaggs, has been trained professional counseling, expressive arts therapy, and the Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and (BMGIM). She has also been a trainer BMGIM. book is the culmination of her 21 years of as a psychotherapist and her study of many diverse sources. A statement the introduction stood out for me as a focus for this work. She writes, This book is an attempt to explore the meaning of the whole of humanity, its part the evolution of consciousness, its role as a carrier of unconscious universal motifs, and its power to heal (p. 11). She increases the reader's awareness of the need for healing our world today, and she challenges the reader to be responsible and intentional the use of music. In discussing the dynamic and universal role can play healing, she states, music can provide a connection to our human roots (p. 13). The book is thought provoking, inspiring, and easily understood, even by a reader untrained psychology or music. There are 9 chapters and many include short exercises for listening, as a (p. 21) purposeful and focused way. Skaggs has taken great care to warn the reader about using these exercises without proper training for someone else. Each exercise has clear guidelines to prepare the listener and suggestions for processing afterwards. There are many examples given from her therapy sessions throughout the book. As someone also trained the BMGIM, I found these examples to be very helpful and inspiring. I see this book as being useful for therapists, counselors, or psychotherapists, medical professionals, hospice professionals, hospital chaplains, spiritual counselors, massage therapists, teachers, musicians, and lay readers who are interested using for personal growth. In chapter 1, as Oracle, Skaggs captures the reader's attention by sharing many inspiring examples from her sessions with clients. She discusses how has acted as an oracular guide throughout history and many cultures. She clearly shows how functions as oracle through images, metaphors, and synchronistic moments. She compares sound patterns to the visual patterns Rorschach ink blots in that the response to them is unique to the individual's psyche (p. 22). She also provides some scientific theories from physic as a basis for ways can act as an oracle to sometimes predict future events, including accurate medical information. In this chapter she lays the groundwork for ways functions to evoke archetypal images. The second chapter, Expanding Consciousness Through Music, is derived from a wide variety of sources ranging from a seventeenth-century poet to twentieth-century physicists. Skaggs provides the reader with several theories about consciousness. The lay reader is shown the value exploring the inner world of the unconscious and how can be a bridge between the conscious and unconscious worlds. She provides concise information on how brain waves change different states of consciousness and how narrowing the focus of attention, as BMGIM, enables one to reach these states. There are several fascinating examples relating to the science of cymatics and quantum physics. She demonstrates the importance of using classical over other types of exploring the unconscious. She states, Music that has its source an intentionality devoted to the deepter nature of humans reaches the listener physiologically, emotionally, neurologically, and spiritually. It facilitates an expansion of awareness into limitless realms of experience (p. 47). I found chapter 3, The Archetypal Nature of Music, to be the most interesting chapter the book. …

Between Autohagiography and Confession:

The seventeenth-century Polish nun Anna Maria Marchocka was counselled by her confessor to confess all her sins in a work which came to be regarded as her Mystical Autobiography. As an unskilled writer obeying her spiritual counsellor, Marchocka was struggling with the manner of self-representation. While she emulated hagiographic models, her confession is anchored in the political situation of Poland, making her text akin to hagiographic discourse fused with auto/biographical information. The similarity of Marchocka's writings to those of late medieval mystical writers makes her an epigone of the mystical tradition.

A Comparison of Utilization of Hospice Services Between Hispanics and Whites

Past studies have shown that proportionately fewer Hispanics than Whites were admitted to hospice. Not many studies documented Hispanics' use of hospice service after hospice admission. The purpose of this study was to compare Hispanics' and Whites' utilization of hospice services. The design was a retrospective chart review completed in a Hispanic-majority city. Four Medicare-certified hospice agencies in the area participated by providing charts (N = 500) for review. Demographic/informational variables and service utilization variables were collected. Service utilization included length of service, total visits, and discipline-specific visits. Data were analyzed using analysis of variance with a level of significance set at .05. The results showed that ethnicity did not significantly influence length of service or total visits; however, Whites received more visits than Hispanics from social workers, aides, and spiritual counselors. Results were considered within the context of cultural value differences between Hispanics and Whites. Hospice providers can use the study information to develop patient-centered care for Hispanics.

The German Rabelais? Foul words and the Word in Luther

Luther is infamous for his use of scatological language, but Luther scholars (with the notable exception of Heiko Oberman) have not attempted to relate his use of scatology to his theology. This contrasts strongly with Rabelais scholarship, in which the theological significance of the Frenchman's scatology is widely acknowledged. Suggested is a number of ways in which the ‘problem’ of Luther's scatological coarseness could be explained on non-theological grounds (by attributing it to the exaggerations of Roman Catholic polemic, or to the angry ravings of Luther's painfully afflicted and disillusioned dotage, or to an anally-fixated psychology, or to the coarseness of the age in which he lived), but the conclusion is that none is completely successful. After a brief comparison with relevant work on Rabelais that provides a theoretical context, a review of the state of the question in Luther scholarship shows that the nature and function of Luther's scatological language in polemical contexts has been convincingly elucidated by Mark Edwards and Heiko Oberman. However, the author suggests that an investigation of Luther's unexpected use of such language in pastoral contexts (in letters of spiritual counsel and in several Table Talk fragments) demonstrates more directly how his scatology relates to the key themes in his theology. Here Luther recommends scatological outbursts as an efficacious remedy against diabolically inspired attacks of melancholy (depression). These outbursts are shown to be based on his doctrine of creation, his doctrine of incarnation, and his doctrine of justification by faith alone. A concluding comparison reveals that, while the scatology of Rabelais the humanist emphasized the importance of perceiving a harmonious balance between one's higher and lower natures, Luther's emphasized the tension inherent in this life of being simul iustus et peccator.

Social work and spiritual counseling: results of one state audit.

Interdisciplinary care is the foundation of hospice service for the terminally ill. This model of care includes a holistic focus on the patient and family, including not only physical and medical management but also psychological and spiritual needs. The importance of social issues is acknowledged and supported through federal and state regulations requiring social work and spiritual counseling services as a part of the hospice care team. State regulatory reports were analyzed to identify compliance issues for social workers and spiritual counselors within hospice programs in a midwestern state. Problems with care planning, assessment, and bereavement services were identified in this process. Deficiencies point to the opportunities for social work educators to improve the training of future hospice social workers and the challenges involved in training spiritual counselors.

Spiritual Direction in the Reformed Tradition

This article calls attention to the absence of spiritual directors in the Reformed tradition, describing how spiritual guidance or counsel was provided historically as well as noting current practice. From a definition of the practice in the Reformed tradition, it proceeds to describe the role of spiritual guides or companions. A description of the nature and process of spiritual transformation is provided, including the principal characteristics of spiritual maturity. Spiritual direction is distinguished from psychotherapy, and occasions for referral are recognized. Books representing different facets of this subject are recommended.

Timothy Edward Toohig

Timothy Edward Toohig

Show and Tell: George Herbert, Richard Sibbes, and Communings with God

The poet George Herbert (1593-1633) and Richard Sibbes (1577-1635), writer of sermons and religious treatises, were both authors whose works were best sellers in the 1630s. (1) Herbert wholeheartedly accepted the Church of England liturgy and polity, while Sibbes was undoubtedly puritan. Until recently the real ecclesiastical differences between them have been exaggerated; in fact, an influential textbook by the nineteenth-century historian Samuel Rawson Gardiner singled out these two as representing opposing poles within the Church of England of their time (82-85). (2) However, modern historians have been substantially revising long-standing views of that church, and particularly the former picture of the Jacobean mainstream (formative for these writers) as Laudian. It can now be claimed that the center of the Church of England before Laud's dominance was Calvinist and contained both moderate episcopalians (like Herbert) and moderate puritans (like Sibbes). (3) Why were these writers so popular? A likely reason is that both wrote effectively about the spiritual life of Christian believers, (4) and sought to provide spiritual counsel, at time when Laudian church administrators were preoccupied with the externals of ritual. (5) Herbert on his deathbed called his collection of poems a picture of the many spiritual Conflicts that have past betwixt God and my Soul, and he hoped that it would be of help to any dejected poor Soul (Walton 314). The titles of two of Sibbes' most popular works, The Bruised Reed, and Smoking Flax and The Soules Conflict with Itself, indicate that their subjects and purposes are like those of Herbert's book. Elsewhere I have shown that some of the writings of Herbert and Sibbes are closely related, even in such details as diction and phraseology (Conforming 116-34). In this essay I want to explore further the affinity recently discovered in some of the works of Herbert and Sibbes, but also to call attention to key difference: when they are writing of the personal relationship between the believer and God, (6) Sibbes describes that relationship whereas Herbert exemplifies it in terms of the speaker's own experience. Both writers similarly affirm that God always takes the initiative yet that human love is significant, even valued and savored by God, in spite of its actual inadequacy. For both Herbert and Sibbes the life with God is marked by spiritual conflicts, which they seek to present realistically, and is also somewhat hidden one. Because the relation is personal, both writers use human comparisons to describe it. Herbert, like his exemplary Country Parson, is a diligent observer, and tracker of Gods wayes (244), and so is Sibbes. (7) However, while Sibbes writes of these matters in the third person, or in generalizing first-person plural, Herbert vividly uses the first-person singular. (8) The difference is not merely that Herbert, unlike Sibbes, is poet. As Kate Narveson has persuasively argued, telling distinction between conformist and puritan members of the Calvinist consensus is that, while both advocated the use of the holy soliloquy, only the conformists actually published work in this genre. (Narveson refers only to prose works, but the Herbert poems dealt with in this essay are of similar nature.) (9) Puritans like Sibbes wrote about such communings with God but did not offer specific examples, perhaps because of puritan hesitations about public, formally set prayers. Thus the relationship with God about which Sibbes and other writers give counsel is strikingly exemplified in Herbert. Just how close Herbert comes to the puritan attitude in this respect is suggested in that, while he prepared the poems in The Temple for publication, he never actually published them. Instead, he sent them from his deathbed to his friend Nicholas Ferrar, leaving to the latter the decision whether to publish or destroy them (Walton 314). A conspicuous feature in the writings of both Herbert and Sibbes is intimacy with God, but though there is real mutuality these Calvinists insist that God is always first. …

Spiritual Dark Night and Psychological Depression: Some Comparisons and Considerations

The author contends that spiritual dark night and some forms of psychological depression share commonalties yet have distinctly different features that call for different responses from caregivers. The author presents comparisons between the 2 phenomena; highlights differences between them to offer counselors guidelines for making informed responses to their clients' issues; and compares professional preparation for spiritual directors, pastoral counselors, and traditional counselors. The article focuses on effective caregiver responses to dark night challenges that may be misperceived as manifestations of depression and stresses the importance of counselors and spiritual directors knowing their limits of expertise.

Spirituality, Transgender Identity, and Coming Out

In a number of cultures (e.g., Native American and Asian communities), the transgender experience has held positive, spiritual meanings—a value often denied to transgender people in today's Western society. We posit that gender dualism (male versus female, man versus woman, masculine versus feminine) has contributed to the social stigmatization of transgenderism, and that dualism in terms of the separation between science and religion (body versus spirit) has contributed to the medicalization (and pathologization) of transgenderism. A paradigm shift has been gradually occurring over the past decade, in which transgender individuals are affirming their identity and sexuality as distinct from both male and female identity and sexuality. This process can be described as a spiritual discernment or awakening, not only for the individual involved but also for family and community, including their community of faith. Attention to this coming-out process by mental health practitioners and spiritual counselors can...

Can pastoral counselling recover its roots in madness?

Modern pastoral counselling had its origins in North America in the experience of people, who suffered from psychiatric illnesses and who believed them to be spiritual crises, which would respond to pastoral care. In the United Kingdom many of those involved in the foundation of the pastoral care and counselling movement also worked in psychiatric hospitals. In both Europe and America pastoral counselling has largely forsaken its roots in psychiatry. However, recent research amongst mental health service users/survivors reveals how important spiritual care and counsel are and how few resources are available to provide this service from psychiatry, religious organisations or secular counselling services. The results of three research projects in Somerset are described and the significance of the recovery of pastoral counselling to fill the vacuum of spiritual care is explored.

Brain tumors

The total care of a patient with an incurable brain tumor is a complex task. It is best performed by a team of specialized care providers including neurologists, neuro-oncologists, neurosurgeons, radiation oncologists, nurses, neuropsychologists, social workers, and physical and occupational therapists. Hospice providers, and spiritual counselors provide particular skilled services and comfort to patients nearing the end of life. The role and prominence of each team member evolves during the course of the illness as the disease progresses and the symptoms and needs of the patient change. Family members often provide the bulk of the direct care, and themselves require support, education, and counseling. While we currently lack curative therapies for most patients with malignant brain tumors, careful attention to symptom diagnosis and management can greatly enhance the quality of life of a patient with a brain tumor throughout the course of the illness and at the end of life.

Psychotherapy and religion: a survey of Northern Bavarian psychotherapists

By taking a survey of physicians and psychologists accredited as psychotherapists in Franconia (northern Bavaria), we attempted to draw conclusions about the importance of religion for the therapists themselves and for their therapeutic settings. 253 physicians and 78 psychologists returned usable questionnaires (a return rate of 70% for each group). 30% of each group were non-denominational, significantly more men than women were not religious or considered themselves "agnostic/atheistic." Catholic therapists appeared to be more loyal toward their church and more open-minded toward religion in general than protestants and non-denominationals, respectively. Around 1/5 of the psychologists had prayed for their patients. Among the psychoanalysts there were no fewer non-denominationals or agnostics/atheists than among physician/psychotherapists or behavioural therapists. The physician/psychoanalysts classified the role of religion as less important than physician/psychotherapists; however, there were marked differences between the psychoanalytic schools. Many therapists could imagine consulting a spiritual counselor in appropriate cases. The results indicate a correlation between the subjective attitude of therapists toward religion and their handling of this topic in therapeutic practice.

Guru et politique en Inde. Des éminences grises à visage découvert ?

Guru and Politics in India: Uncovered "Eminences Grises" ? Christophe Jaffrelot In ancient India, the Hindu king was guided by a spiritual counsellor, a guru. This tradition receded in the background after independence because of the secularisation of the state. Yet, politicians, like Indira Gandhi, have continued to cultivate close relationships with guru, and have even occasionnally publicised this relationship when such a move helped them to improve their image. Such relationships were not legitimate in two cases only, that of the tantric guru and that of men with some underground connection. The conception of power that the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Association of National Volunteers) has developed directly derives from the traditional pattern of a king and his guru. Since its inception, the RSS aimed at becoming the Raj guru of the Indian state. The rise to power of the BJP in 1998 enables it to play such a role today. After doing so in the background for long, the RSS is now coming forward because the Prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee try to benefit from his association with an organisation which is well known for its Hindu nationalist ideology and integrity. The secrecy of the relation between politicians and guru therefore, is not imperative. It may be publicised for strengthening the legitimacy of the former.

Integrating the Spiritual Dimension Into Traditional Counselor Education Programs

The author explores the issues involved in integrating the spiritual dimension into traditional counselor education by creating a joint community and addictions counseling master's program based on a hybrid of the wounded healer and wellness models. Such a hybrid encompasses both the skills and knowledge approaches to counselor education advocated by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs and the spirituality of Alcoholics Anonymous's 12 steps. After a theoretical discussion of this hybrid model, an experimental master's program based on the model is described.

“One Way”: Billy Graham, the Jesus Generation, and the Idea of an Evangelical Youth Culture

On New Year's Day 1971 Pasadena, California, basked in its standard smog-tinged sunshine as well over a million people lined the route for the annual Tournament of Roses Parade. That year's grand marshal was America's “Protestant Pope,” evangelist Billy Graham. Consistently voted among America's most admired men and a highly visible spiritual counselor and friend of Richard Nixon, Graham may well have been at the zenith of his national influence. But, as he entered into the gala festivities surrounding the Tournament of Roses, Graham claimed that he was of two minds. Despite the “fanfare, the flag-waving,” Graham wrote later that year, “I have seldom had such mixed emotions as I had that day in Pasadena.” For he claimed he knew “that decadence had settled in. As I savored the grandeur of this great nation I also sensed its sickness.” As the elements of the parade headed down the boulevard, Graham and his wife Ruth waved to the smiling crowds while he, as he said, “watch[ed] the horizon for a cloud of impending revival to restore [America's] spiritual greatness.”