Beyond psychology: Spirituality in Henri Nouwen’s pastoral care

HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Beyond psychology: Spirituality in Henri Nouwen’s pastoral care
 
Creator Dreyer, Yolanda
 
Subject — —
Description This article aims to explain Henri Nouwen’s reflection on the relation-ship between psychology and practical theology and especially on the commensurability/incommensurability of psychological techniques and spirituality, both of which are relevant to pastoral care. It demonstrates Nouwen's understanding of pastoral care, what the underlying epistemology is and how spirituality is the focal point of his model. In this context he discusses aspects such as pain, anger, greed, grief and solitude. In the discussion his knowledge and use of psychological perspectives become apparent. He sees the suffering person as a spiritual being, someone who lives in the presence of God. Therefore he finds it imperative to move beyond psychology. Spirituality is about the way in which someone experiences God’s presence. To explain and enhance spirituality, Nouwen proposes a theory for pastoral care which aims at healing, sustaining and guiding the suffering person. To elucidate the underlying epistemology of Nouwen’s model and to understand his critical stance with regard to psychology, the article follows the pattern of the focal points “healing”, “sustaining” and “guiding”.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor
Date 2003-10-27
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — —
Format application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/hts.v59i3.670
 
Source HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies; Vol 59, No 3 (2003); 715-733 2072-8050 0259-9422
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/670/571
 
Coverage — — —
Rights Copyright (c) 2003 Yolanda Dreyer https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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