Page 177 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 7

The Work and Thinking of David Benner

mon framework is constantly becoming more ons of how to balance work and personal life?
amorphous and crumbly. Where do people go who wish to explore their
The role of the pastor in the counselling dia- response to issues of injustice in their commu-
logue is therefore generally moving towards nities? The available contexts for shared inquiry
that of the ethically responsible Christian into the moral issues of life are quite limited. At
counsellor, while the latter is moving towards
the role of the psychotherapist. All are facing one time, the church played this role for the ma-
the challenge of accepting that ethical reflec- jority of the members of Western society. But
tion is an important part of accompanying unfortunately, its role has been seriously limi-
the counsel-seeker, without it however being ted by virtue of the marginalized place which it
clear from the beginning from which source now occupies in secularized society.
the standards and orientation are to be taken. Psychotherapists and counsellors who are wil-
ling to engage around these moral questions
But what of those who do not work out of such have been a resource for some people but, as
a context and who do not offer a moral frame- noted earlier, the majority of mental health pro-
work for their care? An absence of such a frame- fessionals have been seduced by the erroneous
work can easily be construed as suggesting that view that psychological problems are unrela-
moral considerations are not important. Such a ted to morality and that moral considerations
moral vacuum ultimately leads to a disintegra- are, therefore, inappropriate to the therapeutic
tion of the value framework of the individual context. For most people, the most available
and of society. It also contributes to moral con- context for moral reflection is their friendships.
fusion. Unfortunately, it is not just psychothe- In fact, probably the majority of soul care that
rapists who have fallen into the trap of thinking is provided is that which is offered by friends
that an absence of judgementalism requires an to friends without any idea that what they are
absence of moral reflection and inquiry. Under doing is offering cura animarum. But, unfortu-
the influence of therapeutic psychology, pasto- nately, friendships often operate with the same
ral counsellors have too often succumbed to the understanding of privatized morality. Conse-
same folly. quently, friends often accept arbitrary limits on
conversation that make moral discourse and
An absence of a moral framework for soul care ethical reflection awkward.
also suggests that morality is a private and per-
sonal matter, a position which when taken to Wolfram Soldan: In its final part of the sec-
the extreme suggests that each person is ul- tion on „pastoral conversation“, Benner goes
timately only accountable to him or her self. into the important phenomenon of the priva-
The privatization of morality has been a con- tisation of morality/ethics and indicates that,
sequence of the secularization of the West and for precisely this reason, the raising of ethi-
cal questions during counselling is still most
the marginalization of the church. Most people easily managed within friendly relationships
acknowledge that moral decisions have to be (and, I would add, also within a family con-
made in life but seem to operate with the as- text). For us Christians, this leads to a dilem-
sumption that because these decisions have to ma: we usually still believe in the validity of
be made personally and individually, there is no certain general ethical norms. If, however,
significant role for shared inquiry on the matter. we bring these directly (judgementally) into
This is most unfortunate; morality is much too a conversation, this can be very easily expe-
complicated to be left to any of us alone. We de- rienced by the vis-à-vis as an overstepping of
sperately need relationships where we can enga- boundaries into his private sphere and more
or less openly rejected. Since in most cases a
ge in careful reflection on the moral dimension common ethical framework of this kind has
of our life. not been adequately marked out in advance,
But where does one find such relationships? the accusation of overstepping of boundaries
Where can people turn to reflect on the ethical has a justification when this arises in conver-
and moral issues of their business and personal sation. On the other hand, I am deeply con-
lives? To whom can a person talk about questi- vinced that most people have a longing not
to be left alone with their ethical questions.
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