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PASTORAL PSYCHOLOGY
occurred in the attitude of men towards the cure of souls. It
became secularised. The spiritual adviser was now a teacher of
the mind. Mental training and discipline were enjoined as a
means of cultivating the faculties and perceptions with the aim
of achieving inner harmony. Salvation was synonymous with
freedom from care. The result of this point of view was that
both in principle and practice the care of souls meant the
development of personality. It became detached from religion
and the Church and tended to become the responsibility of the
psychologist and the physician.
The Present Time
The most notable characteristic of the contemporary situation
is the diversity of views that are held by different schools of
religious thought about the responsibilities of the pastor, or
spiritual adviser, for the care of souls, and the contentions
between them. In this respect the picture presented by the
Christian Church at the present time is confusing.
The new Confessionalism that arose in the nineteenth
century demanded the re-establishment of the authority of the
spiritual office. It reintroduced into the Protestant Church the
practice of private confession and thereby restored the pastor,
or spiritual adviser, to the status of confessor without at the same
time vesting in him the ecclesiastical authority he has in the
Catholic Church. It may be said, indeed, that if one tendency is
more characteristic than another of the Christian attitude
towards the care of souls at the present time it is this renewal
of interest in confession as a means of succour to the soul. The
value of confession is recognised both within the Church and
outside it. Medicine and psychology both acknowledge its
therapeutic importance.
The pietistic attitude towards the care of souls still finds some
expression both in the Established Churches and in many
dissenting communions. In the main, however, contemporary
practice in the Christian Churches shows two distinct trends.
On the one hand, the idea of fellowship is being emphasised,
and within the several denominations there are many
movements whose avowed purpose is to recreate a vital sense of
Christian fellowship and a clearer awareness of its obligations.
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