Compassionate Availability - a theology of pastoral care

Introduction

Writing a paper about the concepts of pastoral theology and pastoral care, invites you into an explosion of concepts. While the notions clearly come from a particular background, new meanings, understandings and developments are emerging in the contemporary context. However the diverse range of writings in the area also provides an opportunity to examine potential resources, in order to develop an awareness of your own theological approach to pastoral work.

This paper will start by naming the foundational material of the pastoral theology/pastoral care paradigm. It will then examine in particular, three examples of current academic debate, namely: the nature of interdisciplinary engagement; feminist and womanist critiques; and the communal and contextual aspects of the paradigm.

In the light of these particular themes the second part of the paper explores the theology of pastoral work, concentrating specifically on the notion of compassion as found in the work of Nouwen and Pembroke. Their writings will be used to explore some of the insights required for self care for pastoral workers; and the implications for the practical outworking of pastoral care.

Pastoral theology and care

Gerkin traces the development of pastoral care, noting that the beginning of its modern manifestation can be located with Boisen. In 1936 Boisen published a work based on his own experiences as a person with psychiatric illness and calling into question therapeutic practices which did not take account of his religious identity. The work of Carl Rogers emerged shortly after. His non-directive method of counselling was based on the idea that the solutions to person’s own self care lay within themselves. Rogers approach was to emphasise the importance of empathy with a client, which included attenuation to the bodily as well as the cognitive expression of the person. In the 60’s Clinebell, finding the Rogerian approach too passive, instead developed a toolbox approach to the classic range of issues encountered in pastoral care. His method was based on the idea that a pastor could utilise the skills provided to encourage growth in a person.

These early and mainly clinically focussed methods led to the understanding of pastoral theology as:
“…the theory of ordained ministry in general, including a definition of its functions and duties (or offices), underlying theological principles, moral and spiritual requirements, methods of actual practice, and related disciplines of training and education…the theory of the cure or care of souls (pastoral care and counselling), distinguished ambiguously from other pastoral functions by its primary focus on individual need and the personal character of the pastor’s involvement with the parishioner.”

However, this definition would no longer appear to be acceptable. Gerkin after tracing his journey as a pastor and theological lecturer over several decades concludes the introduction to his book on Pastoral Care, by moving to a position beyond the ordained psychotherapeutic paradigms. For him, pastoral theology has moved beyond the concept of the “caring ministry of the pastor” and includes “the broadest range of pastoral and communal practices in the life of the church and the world.”

Henderson also rejecting the narrower definition writes:
“Pastoral theology is the study of those questions posed for Trinitarian theology by the experience of being self-consciously human in specific cultural, social and ecological structures. It is also the quest for theological insight which can shape practice that brings about healthy development of community an individual, both outside and inside the church.”

Lyall refines the idea of how theology might be done in this context, noting that the exploration is an activity of the church as a community in the light of its own praxis, and scriptural and theological traditions. He concludes that:
“Practical theology does not exist for its own sake but ultimately to bring about a transformation in practice more congruent with an interpretation of the nature of discipleship.”

How one approaches all these elements in working out a theology is also a matter for discussion. Moore, in promoting the concept of pastoral theology as a hermeneutic, argues that an “applied model” for pastoral theology will not sustain a Christian community. Approaching it as a hermeneutic however, includes the community in the continued development of theology through reflection on their own practices, as well as using the wisdom gained through an applied approach.

Current debates on the nature of pastoral theology and pastoral care
De Jongh traces a multiplicity of streams of contemporary thought in Pastoral Theology. For the purposes of this paper however, three aspects assist in developing the understanding of my own approach to pastoral theology and pastoral work. These are; interdisciplinary engagement, the impact of feminist and womanist critiques, and the communal and contextual aspects of pastoral work.

Interdisciplinary engagement

While we have seen that the modern movement in pastoral care emerged alongside the psychotherapeutic model, de Jongh notes that;
“The theoretical language in the present literature seems to be much less psychological because of a renewed and much stronger emphasis on theology, hermeneutics, philosophy and context. While the appeal of psychology helped to place pastoral theology on the map…it no longer wields the same power.”

This does not mean that the theological approach has discarded the insights available from other disciplines. Most notably the developments in cultural anthropology and the concept of intertextuality are having a dramatic effect on the development of all community and individual based caring practices. Cahalan when framing the idea that practical theology can be described in terms of interpreting multiple texts writes,
“Human persons are being described, not in some static, essentialist way by practical theologians, but as living, embodied, community created beings. The more we know about how humans beings actually go about constructing lives of faith and meaning, the more ministers and leaders of faith communities can help them to do that well.”

However, there still seems to be an uneasy tension about how the disciplines work with each other in the field. While Browning has criticised the uncritical adoption of the social sciences in pastoral theology, Henderson critiques the general thrust of pastoral theology which starts with theological presuppositions concerning the nature of culture. She argues that,
“The pastoral theologian short-circuits meaningful dialogue by a tacit or unacknowledged assumption that theological presuppositions will outweigh anything the experience, data or theories put forward by other disciplines might suggest.”

Feminist and womanist critiques

Most feminist or womanist writing emerges from an exploration of the power dynamics inherent in human relationships. Within pastoral theology the contribution of these critiques has been to open up the practice of pastoral care to scrutiny with a ‘hermeneutic of suspicion.” Thus the images of God within the context of care are raised as an initial point. Moore writes:
“issues in pastoral care cannot be divorced from the most central issues in theology concerning the nature of God and how God is represented and spoken about. Pastoral care cannot be separated from pastoral theology; pastoral theology as an interpretative discipline will inexorably lead us to new understandings of God.”

These approaches have also allowed for the dynamics of the factors impacting on the practice of pastoral work to be named and upheld as part of the process. Thus social location and the experience of those in the community (including the marginalised) become part of the equation for critique and for possibility.

Communal and contextual impacts
The development of any theology must necessarily include the life of community, and the contextual location in which theology is developed and engaged. Cahalan writes that the telos of theology is to guide community in its faithful life. Gerkin as we have seen takes the implications of developing a theology of care beyond “the identifying Christian tradition, the contemporary community of Christians and the particular needs of individuals within the community,…(to give) attention to the issues and concerns of the contemporary cultural context.” The impact of liberation theology also impacts on pastoral theology, in particular the writings from South America where the emphasis is on “the public dimension of a pastoral care agenda: looking for ways to witness prophetic and messianic concerns for the underprivileged.”

Inevitably, therefore one can no longer work within the paradigm of pastoral care as a clinically based process, without understanding that pastoral theology draws the attention of the pastor beyond the immediacy of personal or local community needs. The nature of theology itself will be to locate any pastoral work within its broad communal and contextual framework.

Locating my theology of pastoral care
How then do all these considerations about pastoral theology and pastoral work feed into my approach?

Lyall points to the healthiness of identifying the “logical hinterland” which informs practice. It is to be read then that the three areas of discussion identified above clearly have strong resonance for me. A consistent theme across them is that the particular (namely pastoral work) must always be read and adjusted in light of the developments in the broad context (in this case pastoral theology.)

Also helpful is Gerkin’s approach to the historical notions of pastoral ministry as he identifies the roles of priest, prophet and wise sage. In relating one particular pastoral encounter with a woman working through her anguish and grief he revisits the concept of “care and cure of the soul”. He writes “I found myself as I suffered along with Margaret…very much identifying with my mediaeval priestly ancestors … the pastor as physician of the soul.” Gerkin later explains that this concept is not only associated with “competent psychologists and therapeutic counsellors” but also with “helping people make connections between their lives of faith in the community and tradition that identifies us as people of God, and the day to day individual, social and cultural realities of our lives.”

My approach also takes on board strong learnings from feminism, which in the area of pastoral care includes the modalities of resistance, empowerment, nurturance and liberation. As such, pastoral care may not be “particularly pastoral or ‘nice’…(it) disturbs as well as comforts, provokes as well as guides. It breaks silences and calls for radical truth telling; it names shame and guilt, calls for confession and repentance, and moves vigilantly towards forgiveness and reconciliation.”

However, underlying all these factors is the biblical notion of compassion as explored, in particular by Nouwen, and developed to some extent by Pembroke. It is this underlying theological principle that will be examined in the remainder of this paper.

Compassion
In his exploration of the notion of wounded healer, Nouwen writes “The minister is called to speak to the ultimate concerns of life: birth and death, union and separation, love and hate. He has an urgent desire to give meaning to people’s lives. But he finds himself standing on the edges of events and only reluctantly admitted to the spot where the decisions are made.” It is of course Nouwen’s contention that rather than this being a problem, it is in fact the key to being in relationship with each other.

Such an approach could be regarded, particularly from those who are marginalised by social structures, rather than by vocation, to be rather deluded in its failure to acknowledge the powerful presence that a minister has in a community. However, the point that Nouwen makes is grounded in his assessment of the focus of social systems, where compassion, namely the driving force of the minister’s desire, is not the central concern of the community.

He has described this as follows:
“Compassion is neither our central concern nor our primary stance in life. What we really desire is to make it in life…We want to forge our identities by carving out for ourselves niches in life where we can maintain a safe distance from others. We do not aspire to suffer with others. On the contrary, we develop methods and techniques that allow us to stay away from the pain…(in this context,) being compassionate means being kind and gentle to those who get hurt by competition…But our primary frame of reference remains competition”

Nouwen’s concept of compassion is grounded in the belief of a compassionate God.
“God is a God-with-us, a God who came to share our lives in solidarity. It does not mean that God solves our problems, shows us the way out of our confusion, or offers answers for our many questions. He might do all of that, but his solidarity consists in the fact that he is willing to enter with us into our problems, confusions and questions.”

Pembroke develops this sense of compassion as “central” and as “presence” through the work of Marcel and Buber by exploring the themes of availability and confirmation. In doing so he notes that the work of Marcel in particular is strongly linked to the notion of compassion. Compassion, he argues goes beyond the Rogerian notion of acceptance and empathy. Instead he uses the concept of receiving the other into one’s “homespace.” This deep level of receptivity is illustrated by Paul’s use of the Greek word splanchon.

From this framework, Pembroke explores the Marcellian notion of presence, summarising the notions of grace, fidelity, belonging and availability in the statement “in Christ we come to realise that we cease to belong to ourselves and so we transcend one another in the very heart of our love.”

Pembroke’s thesis is developed as he works through the place of compassionate availability as the foundation for pastoral care and counselling. He argues that the therapeutic process is compromised if the virtue of receptivity is not available to the pastor. He notes that while techniques must be developed, they are only useful in the hands of the ‘available’ pastor.

Finally, Pembroke also cautions against equating splanchon with sacrifice. He notes that feminist critique of theological language has promoted the idea of “equal regard” beyond that of “sacrifice”. He argues that it is this concept, namely the valuing of oneself and equally valuing the other, which creates a paradigm of presence where exploitation can be avoided.

Implications

A theology which is fed by the notion of compassionate availability has at least two implications for pastoral work. The first is in the area of self care. Namely how does one who practices within this theology maintain and develop their skills as well as remain within their theological paradigm. The second is in the area of skills and practices required for pastoral work in its variety of forms.

Implications for self care
Nouwen writes that the ‘compassionate way’ involves patience, prayer and action. He describes:
• patience as entering “actively into the thick of life and to fully bear the suffering in and around us….(it) is an extremely difficult discipline precisely because it counteracts our unreflective impulse to flee or fight”;
• prayer as the “discipline that strengthens and deepens discipleship…the effort to remove everything that might prevent the Spirit of God, given to us by Jesus Christ, from speaking freely to us and in us”; and
• action as “the discipline of compassion (that) requires the willingness to respond to the very concrete needs of the moment.”

In addition Nouwen has also explored the concepts of self awareness. He notes that,

“no minister can offer a service without a constant and vital acknowledgement of his own experiences…Making one’s own wounds a source of healing, therefore, does not call for a sharing of superficial personal pains but for a constant willingness to see one’s own pain and suffering as rising from the depth of the human condition which all men (sic) share.”

While Pembroke’s foundational premise for using the skills of pastoral care is one of presence – he also introduces specific issues that need to be attended to by the pastor to assist in pastoral work. He develops the themes of:
• attention to conscience,
• an ability to recognise when one has moved into a place of “constance” rather than availability and
• using the notion of shame to assist in identifying those places and times where the pastor might be in a place to harm their client.

Implications for pastoral work

A pastor who develops such disciplines might therefore be well placed to encounter those with whom they are called to work with compassionate availability. While this does not mean that no clinical pastoral skills are required, it appears to be the basis for engaging in pastoral healing. Rose has written that:
“researchers generally agree that the most significant healing factor does not lie in particular techniques or theories, but in the quality of relationship between the counsellor and client.”

However, while acknowledging the deep theology of this approach, the hermeneutic of suspicion must be applied to each community’s understanding of how this ministry of compassionate availability is to be exercised. It is here that interdisciplinary conversation becomes almost essential.

A broad framework which acknowledges the voices of multiple community expectations about the nature and form of a healing ministry can provide counter assessments to damaging and self referencing system. Rose has written that,
“Healing is seen less as a matter of personal fulfilment than as a question of finding a right relationship with the transcendent and humanity at large. A choice which might seem sacrificial and the right path to take form the religious perspective; can appear pathological in a counselling context.”
Testing what might appear to be pathological in an interdisciplinary context, will assist in guiding and shaping appropriate theologically and contextually based skills and outcomes.

On a more practical level, the notions of compassionate availability can be embodied in the skill of hospitality. Nouwen in particular discusses this concept, which he asserts incorporates the factors of concentration and community. He writes that “paying attention to your guest” and “making an empty space where the guest can find his own soul” are essentially features of hospitality. He continues,
“No minister can save anyone – he can only offer himself as a guide to fearful people. Through the common search for signs of hope – hospitality becomes community.”

Finally, as discussed, pastoral theology will inevitably ask the pastor to encounter the community and context in which they find themselves. If a minister is driven by the concept of compassionate availability, they will inevitably encounter systems in which this concept is alien. In Nouwen’s framework, when the minister is invited into places of life and death, they might be providing a radical counter-cultural sign.

Thus, compassionate availability might result in the development of Christian practices which become the “things Christian people do over time to address fundamental human needs in response to and in the light of God’s active presence for the life of the world.”
If compassionate availability is seen as a “text”, it is inevitable then that it too will experience transformation, as the intersection with other “texts” will open places for new vision in pastoral work.

Conclusion

This paper has covered significant ground in relation to the concepts of pastoral theology and pastoral care. Nevertheless a quote from Henderson manages to convey the paradigm for me. She writes:
“The task of pastoral theology is to wrestle with the unknown, uncongenial and unfamiliar in method and context as well as in rational thought and subject matter. The pastoral theologian needs to enter that uncomfortable state of liminality between subjects, methodologies and contexts where the outlines of certainty become ragged or smudged.”
I believe that in the liminal spaces of this theology, the concept of compassionate availability becomes the foundation of pastoral work.

Bibliography

Cahalan, K. “Three Approaches to Practical Theology, Theological Education and the Church’s Ministry.” IJPT 9 (2005): 63-94.

Capps, Donald. “Pastoral Conversation as Embodied Language.” The Princeton Seminary Bulletin (1993): 254-278 p. ; Vol. 14.

De Jongh Van Arkel, Jan T. “Recent Movements in Pastoral Theology.” Religion & Theology 7, no. 2 (2000): 142.

Gerkin, C. An Introduction to Pastoral Care. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1997.

Henderson, Janet. “What Is Wrong with Pastoral Theology?” British Journal of Theological Education 13, no. 2 (2003): 107.

Hunter, R.J. “Pastoral Theology.” In A New Dictionary of Christian Theology, ed. A. and Bowden Richardson, J., 428-430. London: SCM, 1983.

Lyall, David. The Integrity of Pastoral Care. London: SPCK, 2001.

Moore, Zoë Bennett. “Pastoral Theology as Hermeneutics.” British Journal of Theological Education 12, no. 1 (2001): 7-18.

Nouwen, Henri J. M. The Wounded Healer: Ministry in Contemporary Society: Openbook Publishing, 1979.

Nouwen, Henri J. M., McNeill, D., Morrison, D. Compassion. London: Dartman, Longman and Todd, 1982.

Pembroke, Neil. The Art of Listening. London: T and T Clark, 2002.

Rose, J. Sharing Spaces? Prayer and the Counselling Relationship. London: Dartman, Longman and Todd, 2002.