The therapist deals with the depth of the inner conflict of a loved one, descends into this hell with another person. A clearer conception of the self-disclosure of the receiving reality can help us hold together the two sides of a. I want to speak autobiographically about the circular course of my own dialogue with psychotherapy, hers.
I had tried to solve some of the problems that stood in the way of transactional analysis. Because it forms the background for the work I am currently trying to do with the recovery of the classical pastoral traditions.
Recovering Lost Identity
This clearly establishes the point that the classical tradition was alive at the beginning of the century, recalled and considered important for the practice of pastoral care. Thus pastoral theology has in many cases become little more than an unthinking imitation of the most current psychological trends. I am not suggesting a reactionary archaism that would rigidly repeat culturally determined prejudices of the past.
The situation comes very close to being a confessional moment (in statu confessionis) for those of us to whom the teaching office of the church is connected, at least in the area of pastoral theology and pastoral care. For a more complete bibliography of the classics of the pastoral tradition, please refer to the 1200 or so entries in the bibliography of my Pastoral Theology: Essentials of Ministry (San Francisco: Harper & Row.
Care of Souls in the Classic Tradition by Thomas C. Oden
Why Gregory?
- BPR 2.6
- BPR 2.1
- BPR 1.2
- BPR 1.5
- BPR 2.2
- BPR 2.3
- BPR 2.5
- BPR 2.6
- BPR 2.6
- BPR 2.7
Andrew, who became the first Bishop of Canterbury and the principal "apostle to the English." Gregory's name is thus closely associated with the origins of the Christian community in England. Although rich by birth, he was deeply committed to alleviating and improving the lives of the poor. It became the primary interpreter of the tasks of pastoral care for over a millennium after Gregory.
He believed that an active behavioral response was required for the proper reception of the Eucharist. Gregory's preaching became the pattern for much of the preaching and moral teaching of the early medieval period.9. 11 of the Ancient Christian Writers Series (hereafter noted as PC) is superior to the 1894 translation by James Barmby (hereafter noted as BPR) for the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers (NPNF), although it also remains.
Gregory's work emerged from the creative milieu of the formative stages of Benedictine monasticism. From Ezekiel, Gregory developed a powerful symbol of the potential danger that an egocentric minister can pose to the flock. The pastoral guide is to "think uninterruptedly of the lives of the ancients" (namely the apostles, martyrs and church fathers).
Only from the life of dialogue with the ancient ecumenical tradition will the life of the pastor receive strength and guidance. Then it must be brought openly to the attention of the hearer if any progress is to be made at all. We discussed Gregory's views on ministerial authority and the rudiments of pastoral counsel.
All of these themes are crucial in the pastor's preparation for contextual discernment in pastoral conversation. Bliss, Library of the Fathers of the Holy Catholic Church Series (Oxford: John Henry Parker, 1850).
Case Studies in Pastoral Theology
- BPR 2.8
- BPR 3.9
- BPR 3.22
- BPR 3.2
Gregory developed an intriguing series of paradoxical case studies of the diversity of pastoral counsels. This is the principle of variability based on empathic listening to the specific situation of the parish priest. Gregory had an extremely clear intuitive awareness of such a dynamic in his analysis of the pastoral care of the timid and the affirmative. 6.
Conversely, shy people are likely already painfully aware of their own inadequacies, especially the tendency to encroach on another's territory or right. Impatience is a particular temptation of the powerful, who are forever inclined to underestimate the limits of their power. Gregory presented a psychologically complex and subtle analysis of the way in which demonic temptation works in the consciousness of the overly patient person.
A super patient is like a person who has a very serious illness, who has passed the most dangerous stage of the disease, but later dies unexpectedly due to a sudden recurrence of fever; heat was finally the cause of death.15 The super-patient person is again like a soldier who has won a great victory on the battlefield—the main battle is over; Entering the city thinking victory is already assured, the careless soldier is foolishly trapped by a small, insignificant force within the gates. It is instructive to see how deeply Gregory intuited much of the interpersonal analysis that G later developed in the modern behaviorist tradition of vector analysis. Only he who truly preserves the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace can speak this authentically (Eph. 4:3).
This too, Gregory thought, was exemplary because it showed the sensitivity of David - the low-influence partner - to the importance of maintaining order in society, the very order that had been abused, yet remained necessary and tolerable even in its abuse. The 30 parishioner who has relatively less influence may need similar advice: Don't prematurely seek to grab more influence as if that were the only solution. Gregory's approach to pastoral care of the rich has a remarkable subtlety, which depends heavily on Nathan's earlier biblical paradigms. Those who are easily frightened are admonished "not to be more submissive than they are becoming."37 Gregory is aware of the tendency to self-deception amid apparent humility.
This is required for pastoral care of the arrogant who would otherwise never take the medicine.40. Gregory believed that the difference in weight was not accidental, but responsive to the two young men's different dispositions.
Ironies of Pastoral Counsel
- BPR 3.2
- BPR 3.19
- BPR 3.20
- BPR 3.30
- BPR 3.30
- BPR 3.35
The same point is strongly emphasized by Kierkegaard in his Christian Discourses.4 The person who thinks he is a permanent loser needs the encouragement of the pastor to enable him to use those very circumstances of adversity for learning, for spiritual growth, and for discipline. The pastor will occasionally be asked to give one type of spiritual counsel to gluttons and another type to abstainers. 11. You don't have to deal with both of these cases the same way, Gregory warned.
That the dependent receives goods is not a moral failing, nor is it a moral virtue to play the role of dispenser. The benefactor is called upon not to give too much or too little, but to find the right proportions in giving an appropriate and fair amount, in response to the competing claims of all time. Gregory is especially referring to those greedy people who tend towards opportunism or greed, who are prone to grab whatever they can, at whatever cost to the other, in order to increase their own power, wealth, or influence.
It is like one who offers to sacrifice another man's son in the presence of his father (Sir. 34:20), an unbearable insult. The pastoral aim should be to help keep remorse or regret in proper proportion to the values that have actually been denied. But pastoral care does not end with moral sympathy; it continues, secondly, with the proclamation of forgiveness, because the next main movement of conscience is the acceptance of divine forgiveness.
When a lamp is lit, it is not placed under the dining tub, but on the candlestick, where it gives light to everyone in the house. If a weak character sees you sitting at a meal in a pagan temple—you who "have knowledge"—will his conscience not be encouraged to eat food consecrated to the pagan deity. This "knowledge" of yours is a downright disaster for the weak, the brother for whom Christ died.
Conclusion: Preaching and Pastoral Care
34; Humility must be preached to the proud in such a way as not to increase the fear of the timid, and to give confidence to the timid that it is not. The idle and wanton should be encouraged to zeal for good works, but in such a way as not to increase the immoderateness of intemperate action in the sudden. Moderation must be imposed on the impetuous without creating a sense of listless security among the idle.
Anger must be banished from the impatient, but not to add to the carelessness of the lax and relaxed. Gregory's dialectical balance is exquisite: "The highest good is to be so praised that the good in small things is not. However, the plot thickens as the pastoral preacher realizes that other parishioners sitting in the same congregation have their own distinctive set of ambivalent tendencies and passions.
The pastor hopes that the rush can ease, but without intensifying the anxieties. In speaking to such a violent person in distress, the pastor is also aware of the self-confessed optimist in the future center who suffers from an entirely different set of opposite compulsions. In confronting this perennial problem in the care of souls, Gregory turns again to a medical analogy: Sometimes a person who has a.
If the body cannot bear the strong medicine, the doctor must treat the violent disease in such a way that the fatigue and weakness of the body does not increase. Gregory argues that the application of truth in pastoral situations must be explicitly measured by the ability of the hearer to grasp the truth. The seriousness with which Gregory himself took this saying is revealed in the concluding commentary of his Pastoral Care, where he sighs:.
