Faculty of Theology
Department of Practical Theology
Selected Highlights from Research Findings
In their research project, the researchers focussed on three perspectives, which have been supportive of the narrative turn in pastoral care:
The hermeneutics of Ricoeur, social constructionism and the postfoundationals approach to theology. According to Ricoeur, text is not only an œuvre, but also encompasses social institutions, art and monuments. In a pastoral conversation the people in conversation are the text. The fusion of their horizons enriches all the conversational partners, including the therapist/pastor. If stories are the most appropriate medium to achieve transformation, the researchers state that they have to conclude that (more) stories should be told in order to create an opening for people to change.
In an effort to define social construcionism, which encompasses a whole spectrum of different viewpoints, distinction is made between between micro – for example discursive psychology - and macro social constructionism. Micro social constructionism focuses on the role of microstructures and the use of language in interaction. Therefore social constructionism prefers story telling to an argumentative discourse.
Postfoundationalist Practical Theology should be seen as an approach within the broad paradigm of the hermeneutical approach. And yet, it moves beyond hermeneutics as a metaphor for Practical Theology. For instance, the hermeneutical approach as such does not provide a positioning in between the foundationalist and the nonfoundationalist approaches.
This way of thinking is always concrete, local, and contextual, but at the same time reaches beyond local contexts to transdisciplinary concerns. It is contextual, but at the same time in acknowledgement of the way in which our epistemologies are shaped by tradition.
The researchers found that the concept of local wisdom is vital for the pastoral conversation and a basic principle in the narrative approach. It corresponds with the idea of the not-knowing position taken by the narrative therapist. The assumption on which such a conversation is based is that the real expert knowledge about a person’s life is situated with the person self.
The pastor does not attempt to provide the new or alternative narrative and therefore cannot lay claim to the “success” of the pastoral care, but she/he explicitly atributes it to the parties concerned. Here, humbleness is elevated to the status of a methodical principle. The task of the pastor is to facilitate a conversation where this local wisdom can be re-told and re-invented in order to construct a new preferred reality.
According to the researchers, it seems as if the hermeneutics of Ricoeur, social constructionism and the postfoundationalist approach to theology are all part of one family. These epistemological approaches support the narrative turn in pastoral care and conversation on several points. These can be formulate as guiding criteria for a pastoral conversation:
Preference for stories in stead of concepts and arguments
Locally contextual
Socially constructed stories and identities
In dialoque with the tradition Exploring interdisciplinary meaning
Contact person: Prof JC Müller.
In this article the author takes a closer look at erotica using biblical poetry on the one hand and contemporary Afrikaans poetry on the other. By way of conveying some thoughts on texts in Song of Songs (along with other assorted scriptural texts) the ideas regarding sexuality encountered therein are made to converse with a careful selection of a number of Afrikaans poems to express in homiletical fashion something about the wonder and mystery of this greatest of Heaven's gifts bestowed upon the human condition - the divine spark.
The researcher uses a refrain in popular Afrikaans folk singer Laurika Rauch’s song My Tante Koba (My Aunt Koba) to demonstrate contemporary erotica. Changing the song’s refrain “Maar my voete wil nou dans en my lippe wil nou sing” (My feet want to dance and my lips wants to sing) to “My feet want to dance and my lips wants to kiss”, he states that this reference is the essence of erotica.
To demonstrate erotica in a biblical context, he uses the story of Ruth and Naomi - her mother-in-law – in which the latter advises her as to how best seduce Boaz. She tells her to wait until he is a bit drunk and has fallen asleep. Then "go in and uncover his feet and lay thee down; and he will tell thee what to do." According to the researcher, the uncovering of his feet has erotic undertones.
But what is erotica? According to the researcher, erotica can be described as a form of imaginative human sexuality. Man’s libido is essential to his erotic consciousness, but not definitive. In addition, it gives meaning and shape to man’s aesthetical and religious actions. Sexuality is therefore an essential part of man’s existence.
He adds that erotica finds form and understanding in language. He also stresses that a clear distinction should be made between erotica and pornography. The latter is a form of suppression and masking - a perversion that can also be described as the erotica of hate. He concludes by saying that erotica is a divine spark that allows love in its purist form to blossom
Contact person: Prof CJA Vos.
|
