Global views for Pastoral Care and Counselling: Post-modern, post-colonial, post-Christian, post-human, post-pastoral. 

The global context seems to me to be marked more than ever these days by

·Confusion, uncertainty, diffusion

·Plurality, multiplicity

·Provisionality of knowledge

·Fragility

·Vulnerability

The terms in the sub-title of this talk share the common prefix “post”. The conditions pointed to have been variously understood and there is much debate and difference of opinion as to what they might refer to. To add to this I have introduced another term -‘post-pastoral’, in an attempt to capture a reality that presents itself increasingly to us in diverse forms.

Let me say at once that my usage of the prefix is not, as some understand it, a way of talking about ‘what comes after’, or of ‘that which follows' (in a temporal sense) that which it qualifies. The term ‘post-modern’ then, does not simply refer to that which comes after or replaces modernity. Instead it is a way of speaking about the condition of ‘being in critical vein’ or ‘in questioning mode’. Post-modernity as such, is the situation in which modernity is called to account, questioned and critically appraised. Where the assumptions and assertions of modernity are challenged and critiqued. 

It is also clear that these conditions exist to different degrees all over the globe and that they do so simultaneously. It is not the case that any one of these conditions exists in isolation in one geographical area or cultural context. Nor is it true that the condition critiqued ceases to exist. The modern, the ‘pre-modern’ and the post-modern co-exist in many places today. Our global situation presents us with complex mixtures of post-modernity, modernity, post-colonialism, neo-colonialism, fundamentalism, various forms of Christian and numerous other religions, post-Christianity and post-humanity. Whilst it is true that there are preponderance’s of each condition in different places, they are juxtaposed in complex interaction in urban conurbations as well as rural communities from Greater Accra to Atlanta, Bangalore to Brisbane; Manila to Los Angeles; Kuala Lumpur to Manchester; Kinshasa to Sao Paulo, Singapore to Perth.

Let us consider each in turn, remembering that they constitute the current human condition within which the various practices of pastoral care and counselling are set and the challenges that we must respond to if we are to remain connected and relevant.

Post-modern

Pastoral care and counselling in post-modern mode raise a series of questions for modernist assumptions. Post-modernity involves a dramatic shift in consciousness that began in the last decades of the twentieth century and has continued into the current one. This shift in consciousness is marked primarily by an awareness of the relativity and particularity of every perspective and position. 

No longer do we speak of universal principles and laws, valid for all times and places. Instead we look for the particular historical, cultural, social and familial values that may have contributed to this particular set of principles and laws being useful in this particular set of circumstances. The “postmodern” era is one of intellectual, religious, and political pluralism and diversity – an era of the “conflict of interpretations” (Ricoeur) and of “texts under negotiation” (Brueggemann). It is an era when the “Sacred Canopy” (Berger), if one can be found at all, seems barely to cover the local ball field. [Marie McCarthy, in Woodward and Pattison, 2000, 194] 

In the post-modern condition (following here David Lyall) there has been

¨a return from the exclusive focus on the written word to the oral, narrative andstory – art, music, poetry, dance and other expressive forms of creativity are now as central for theory making as are rationality,logical propositions and abstract concepts.

¨a return from the general to the particular

¨a return from the universal to the local and contextual

¨a return from the timeless to the timely

These shifts are highly conducive to the practice of forms of Pastoral care and counselling that are emerging all over the globe. The emphasis on oral recounting of individual story with a focus on experience within local context at particular and crucial moments, has been what therapeutic counselling has been about for decades. However the assumption that these experiences can be generalised into theories applicable across the board regardless of culture and socio-economic circumstance, has now been quite rightly, under serious challenge for several years. In place of this, therapeutic practices and processes are being given voice from a wide array of different contexts – Just Therapy developed among the Maori people and Palaver process therapy from Congo – are simply two examples. And these are having a significant impact in contexts several thousand miles away from where they are developed.

There is also much fragmentation. In the absence of grand narratives, particular movements with clearly defined limited objectives are now in. In such a circumstance, networking is of importance. Pastoral caregivers are becoming more and more connected across the globe as local initiatives and practices assume significance.

Post-colonial

Post-colonial critique and experience has resulted in the broadening of therapeutic aim and focus of the practitioners of pastoral care and counselling. What has been realised and is now increasingly being worked out in therapeutic terms, is that personal well-being is inextricably linked up with social, communal indeed global justice. As such whilst not jettisoning the hard won gains of personalist approaches there are highly commendable processes that take cultural, gender, social and economic forces into account in their therapeutic work. 

Another feature of post-colonial reality is a melee of beliefs that bring together in sometimes creative and other time’s lethal combinations interpretations and practices based on witchcraft and spiritist beliefs, traditional healing arts and various forms of religious rituals. (Cf. New Age Movement also CPE-Africa’s interactions with American Chaplains)

Colonial ‘subjects’ have well and truly become post-colonial agents, writing, creating and healing their own realities and challenging the expertise of the foreign experts. 

Pastoral caregivers need to increasingly recognise the ability of local contextual therapists – especially wholistic health care givers whose practice reflects ‘other’ religious traditions – (e.g. Vivekananda centre, Bangalore, India) NOT AS EXOTIC ‘OTHERS’ but rather as authentic ‘others’ who’s practices can offer help where western techniques might not. 

The colonial attitude that the best is always from the West is under severe criticism – and rightly so. 

Post-Christian

¨This is particularly the religious and social context of present-day Western Europe. 

So many studies (e.g. studies by Dutch Practical Theologian Johannes van der Ven) have shown just how deep the erosion of the knowledge of the meaning and significance of Christian narrative and the decline of traditional organised Christian religion are in Europe. Churches and cathedrals in so many European cities are places of historical, archival or archaeological interest rather than worshipping communities. Art exhibitions, galleries and theatres appear to have replaced worship services as places of inspiration to which people flock. This is not just a superficial statistical attendance thing (of ‘bums on pews’) but more so a question of values, norms, beliefs and aspirations. The Christian faith hardly actively informs these in the body politic in Western Europe today. 

The language of ‘spirituality’ increasingly replaces that of Religious faith or tradition. 

(See ahead on ‘post-pastoral’). 

This condition presents pastoral care givers with fascinating challenges concerning meaning, insight and interpretation. It is also a creative time when pastoral practitioners need the courage to re-think the meaning and significance of their faith tradition and to find contextually relevant means to share therapeutically in the meaning-seeking activities of pastoral care receivers. 

Post-human

§At the heart of the ecological argument was a valid critique of a humano-centric view of the world. In that view humans and human wants were central, indeed exclusively important in the world. Consider the damage we have inflicted on the earth with such views. Thankfully Eco-sensitive approaches are on the increase. Pastoral caregivers and receivers need an even greater profile as agents of respect for the whole-created order. 

§From the counselling-consulting room to the TV talk show, therapy has moved from the private intimacy of one–to-one work to the public arena of Television where millions of voyeuristic people across the world are the unknown audience and where personal pain assumes entertainment value. 

§Cyberspace is now one of the most serious arenas of intimacy. E-counselling is not the future it is already a major growth activity. The anonymity of the Internet Chat-room provides for several the only means of ‘human’ contact they now know.? Studies are beginning to ask what counselling and pastoral care will look like in the world of the World Wide Web. What will E-pastoral care really look like? How is the www.com world affecting us as persons? How are our views of personhood changing in this age? How is this new technology affecting the nature of human persons, societies and communities? 

§In an era where the likelihood of human cloning looms, the need to challenge many of the de-humanising tendencies of these technological advances and innovations is pressing. 

§Such challenge needs to take the form of offering creative alternative uses for the technology, uses that serve human flourishing. We need a recognition of the reality that humans, while not necessarily the only important part of the creation, have a central role to play in a world of respect and well-being for the whole created realm. 

Post-pastoral

§In Britain last year the APCC (Association for Pastoral Care and Counselling) changed its designation to APSCC (Association for Pastoral and Spiritual Care and Counselling) signalling a situation that had long exercised the minds of pastoral practitioners, namely the Judeo-Christian captivity of the term ‘pastoral’. It had been assumed that counsellors of whatever faith tradition would be quite happy to describe their activities as ‘pastoral’ as a means of articulating their preparedness to take questions of faith seriously – until they were asked! When counsellors of Islamic, Sikh, Buddhist and Ba’hai faith background were actually asked it was discovered that the term ‘pastoral’ with its Judeo-Christian background and connotations, was not one that communicated with people of these traditions. The term ‘spiritual’ was deemed more suitable. At the same time a change that expunged the term ‘pastoral’ from the association, was equally undesirable. The compromise was to combine the two in a new designation that recognised the value of both. 

§The reality of religious pluralism is evident everywhere we turn. Hospital chaplaincies, University chaplaincies, counselling agencies and community mental health facilities all reflect this plurality. No longer can we describe our counselling as pastoral and expect that everyone will understand that we take religion seriously. Moreover, we are called upon to find ways of working that will communicate respect and mutuality between a variety of religious persuasions and with those for whom religion represents the past with which they would rather have little to do. 

§What language shall we use? How shall we designate the rooms available in our chaplaincies? (University Chaplaincy, QE Hospital Chaplaincy) 

§How shall we preserve the values of therapeutic care accrued over the years of theological reflection and practice within the movement? How may these values be offered within a context in which language, beliefs and understandings differ vastly? 

§How do we draw on and enhance the utilisation of traditions upon which we have poured scorn in the past? Multi-faith pastoral care and counselling relativizies and seriously challenges theological notions that have held sway for centuries. Many are responding courageously and innovatively. Some are frozen with fear, dread and anxiety. 

There are 5 challenges that emerge from our considerations of these 'global views' for practitioners of pastoral care and counselling in the varying contexts we inhabit. 

vDeep listening to the throbbing heart of context.

We are called upon to develop and extend our listening skills so that we can begin to hear the 'cries of context' in and through our practice. 

vEmpathy, interpathy and communiopathy with the criss-cross rhythms of inter-cultural encounter: from neurotic ethnocentrism to celebratory inter-culturality.

We have to find ways of 'entering creatively' into the passion and pathos not only of individuals and small groups but also of whole communities, structures and systems. Persons are deeply affected by the inter-relationships they develop within the communities they participate in. Persons are thus affected for good or ill, by the state of health or disease of the communities they are a part of. 

vEmpowering individuals and groups to challenge and change unjust social, economic and political structures that militate against their mental health and well being.

Our pastoral care work has to have a dimension of empowering (see Lartey, 1997) whereby people are enabled to work towards creative change of community-destroying structures. 

vCollaborative work with people whose expertise may be ecological, medical, cultural, economic, political, personal or social – for wholeness in body-mind-soul-community-earth.

Wholistic health for-all must be our aim. We are called upon to work with all that seek the well being of our communities in teams within which the expertise of a wide array of people is respected and valued. 

vEspousing and utilising new models of therapeutic process that will address our existence in this ‘post-reality’ era.

Emmanuel Y. Lartey, In Living Colour: An Intercultural approach to Pastoral Care and Counselling, London: Cassell, 1997 

David Lyall, 'Pastoral counselling in a postmodern context' in Gordon Lynch (Ed) Clinical Counselling in Pastoral Settings, 1999, 7 - 21. 

Gordon Lynch (Ed), Clinical Counselling in Pastoral Settings, London & New York: Routledge, 1999 

Marie McCarthy, 'Spirituality in a Postmodern Era' in Woodward, J. & S. Pattison, (eds.), The Blackwell Reader, 2000, 192 - 205 

Johannes van der Ven & André Beauregard, 'Secular Parishes?' in Paul Ballard & Pam Couture (Eds.) Globalisation and Difference: Practical Theology in a world context, Cardiff: Cardiff Academic Press, 1999, 49 - 66. 

Johannes van der Ven, 'God's Return?' in Paul Ballard & Pamela Couture (eds.), Creativity, Imagination and Criticism: The Expressive Dimension in Practical Theology, Cardiff: Cardiff University Press, 2001, 251 - 278. 

James Woodward & Stephen Pattison, (eds.), The Blackwell Reader in Pastoral and Practical Theology, Oxford: Blackwell, 2000. 

Emmanuel Lartey,

(Birmingham, UK

June - July 2001)