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Another Story of a Struggle to Be Free: A Woman Wrestles for Hope in the Church |
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Written by Linda McKinnish Bridges, Ph.D.
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Tuesday, 11 August 2009 00:00 |
 Wayne Oates left us a great legacy. Known for his deep heart and his keen mind, his prodigious writings and his transparent self, he gave us a tremendous gift when he wrote these words in the prologue of The Struggle to Be Free: My Story and Your Story (1983):
In any event, the struggle has always been between the "from" and the "to"- freedom from one thing in order to devote myself to another thing. That struggle has been mine since my conception. Rebekah gave birth to twins, Esau and Jacob. They struggled with each other in the womb before their births. I was not a twin. But the contending forces have always been within me as well as without, whether to "fit in" and become comfortable or to break out of the mold, the pattern, the role, the situation, the condition of life, into a yet undiscovered, unsought for, and unrealized realm of being. I have struggled against the former and opted for the latter. (pp. 11-12)
These words from his book, which I read annually, have given me permission to go public with my own struggle. Even though I write my own words with my own experiences, I write with the same sense of struggle that Oates understands. I also acknowledge the kind of wrestling that enables one to live honestly and with integrity in often the most uncomfortable in-between place, in the middle "between the 'from' and the 'to'." Like Oates, I am reluctant to place such a personal story in print. Like Oates, however, I am convinced that all we have is personal story and that somewhere in the reading and the telling of our personal stories, deeper meaning for our own lives--both for the reader and the teller--is given. So I tell a story that comes from my heart and my head, from sorrow and joy, from lived experience and intense reflection, a story of a woman who wrestles for hope in the future church.
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What’s Pastoral About Pastoral Counseling? |
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Written by Loren L. Townsend, Ph.D
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Friday, 03 April 2009 00:00 |
 Over the past thirty years I have focused on one expression of ministry—pastoral counseling. If you had asked me in 1979 what pastoral counseling was, I would have had a swift and certain answer. Historically, pastoral counseling was what clergy did with folk in their congregation. By the mid-twentieth century this had expanded to mean the counseling provided by specialized clergy who had extensive training in psychotherapy. These ministers were set aside by their denominations as counseling specialists to provide more intense therapy than parish pastors were prepared to offer. Certification for this specialty required an M.Div., ordination, at least three years of service in a congregation, and several years of clinical training. Sometimes pastoral counselors served as church staff members. Often they worked in pastoral counseling centers funded by a group of churches committed to caring for people suffering from emotional, behavioral, or family problems. This specialty was justified on three grounds: It reflected the image of Jesus the good shepherd who engaged people at the point of their deepest need; it expressed a long-standing Christian tradition that the church should be an active agent of healing and guiding; and it embodied a contemporary Protestant ethic that cultural innovation--like psychotherapy—can be applied critically to religious life. By 1990, this was a near-universal narrative for pastoral counseling.
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The Rule of Conscience in Health Care Decisions |
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Written by Paul Simmons
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Thursday, 02 October 2008 14:15 |
 The concerns of pastoral care and ethics came together in the recent announcement from Health and Human Services regarding the protection of conscience for health care providers. Lurking in the background, perhaps covered by layers of tradition, are philosophical and theological assumptions that also need careful attention. Unfortunately, policy statements from political leaders rarely deal in depth with the issues upon which they make pronouncements. The effort to expand “protections” for physicians, pharmacists and other health care providers has far-reaching implications.
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Written by Edward Thornton, Ph.D.
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Monday, 22 September 2008 13:10 |
 Just as I see myself to be in prime,
I awake, like Dante, in a dark wood.
Lost.
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A Book Review by
David Sawyer, Ph.D.
Carl Savage and William Presnell. Narrative Research in Ministry: A Postmodern Research Approach for Faith Communities. Louisville, KY: Wayne E. Oates Institute, 2008. Paper, 138 pages. ISBN 978-1-892990-28-0.
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Like the graphic on the highway markers for the Lewis and Clark Trail from the prairies to the Pacific, Savage and Presnell stand and point the way to a mostly uncharted territory. Narrative Research in Ministry was written for the Doctor of Ministry program at Drew University, which is admirably marching “off the map” to discover ministry and methods of advanced theological study for the church in the 21st Century.
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