Page 32 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 8

Christian Psychology as a Challenge

‘Soul care’: the psychological reduction of The influence of the Enlightenment on ‘soul
shepherding? care’ can be traced back in its increased empha-
It seems indeed as if the tradition of cura ani- sis on the human mind and self (the individua-
marum with its emphasis on the Christian God listic self-culture with the emphasis on me and
with the message of hope is in retreat. The pa- personal need-fulfilment). The general coun-
radigm shift is from a metaphysics of beyond selling goal in psychology, namely that people
to the psychoanalysis of a subjective ‘within’. “In should be led to assertiveness so that they may
the modern world of our encounter with the reach self-actualization in terms of their mo-
otherness, with the alien or strange, begins not ral and reasoning capacity became the goal in
at the borders of the self, but rather within the many pastoral care models in specifically the
self, at the very core of our identity, and in a way Northern Americas.
that challenges the self-possession of the sub-
ject” Davies 2001:xvi). This egoistic self-con- In his reflection on the different cultural set-
centrating reduces hope to merely a self-aware- tings of the Latin Americas, Ronaldo Sathler-
ness of consumption: “…we exist unequivocally Rosa (2012) points to the fact that in many
as consumers. The culture of the self is less inte- mainline theories and practices of pastoral care
rested and in need of compassion. Our appetite and counselling, a kind of psychological reduc-
for goods defines our existence, and is reflected tionism took over. It seems as if caregivers are
in the enticements of the commercial cosmos of busy to forsake the parameters of their discipli-
advertising and sales” (Davies 2001: xvi). ne. Sathler-Rosa refers to the fact that “the so-
called modern movement of pastoral care and
Anderson (2001:320 expresses his concern counselling was heavily based on the psycholo-
about the unique contribution of caregiving to gical science” (Sathler-Rosa 2012:131); pastoral
the helping and healing professions as follows: care is busy to forsake its own spiritual traditi-
“Although Seelsorge has a long and rich histo- on and its challenge to connect life issues to the
ry in the Christian tradition, pastoral care has spiritual realm of life.
been dominated for decades by psychologies of
the self that paralleled the movement away from The starting point of ‘soul care’ became the inner
”soul” in theological discourse.” human potential (psychologization of spiritua-
lity) (Sperry 2002:3) with an appeal to human
The Enlightenment‘s focus on human dignity, self-determination. Sperry refers to Downey (in
independence and the ability for self-actualiza- Sperry 2002:3) who timely voiced the concern
tion through reason, made concepts like sin, pe- that a psychologized spirituality appears to have
nance and remorse unpopular in many pastoral eclipsed the salvific as the governing category in
circles that embraced the cogito ergo sum-prin- spirituality. With reference to the North Ame-
ciple of R. Descartes (I think, therefore I am). rican context, it was accepted that a person has
The paradigm switch was to move from ‘human the inner potential to develop self-healing and
sin’ to ‘human dignity’. attain wholeness. Self-help presupposes a kind
of democratic independence: the principle of
“The more uninhibited and optimistic the talk the autonomous self has become the ABC for
was regarding the dignity and abilities of hu- spirituality in caregiving. Spirituality has beco-
mans, the greater was the need to relativize and me a mode of ‘self-fixation’ running the danger
secularize the doctrine of original sin. The doc- to reduce spirituality to merely psychological
trine appears – in the form of insight into the constructs. “Psychological reductionism is an
finiteness and fallibility of humans – merely as over-reliance on and uncritical adoption of psy-
a limiting condition of human self-realization, chological constructs, such as self-fulfilment
no longer a description of the very essence of and self-realization. Intentionally or uninten-
humans” (Huber 1996:120). tionally such theories may actually promote
and reinforce individualism and spiritual nar-
cissism” (Sperry 2002:30). The psychologizati-

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