Pastoral care in modern secular society: A sociological research paper

In a secular society, the need for counselling increases due to the uncertainty of the individual, and the field of counselling services grows. Is pastoral care part of this counselling field or a separate area altogether? To better understand where pastoral carers find themselves in the modern world, we first describe theological and sociological theories of secularisation, contemporary social and ecclesiastical analyses of modernity and postmodernity, and their effects on the individual. We then examine the field of counselling and, in detail, pastoral care and pastoral conversations. This reveals a wide range of links to various therapies and areas of society. Following a developed research design, pastoral carers were interviewed about their self-image, additional qualifications and pastoral practice. These interviews were evaluated in two steps, key statements were formed and examined for similarities with counselling, and conclusions were drawn about the ways in which pastoral care is a separate field and the ways in which it has taken on the characteristics of counselling.

Pagina's: 236, Paperback, Our Knowledge Publishing