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PASTORAL PSYCHOLOGY
danger that his interest in psychology will make him a mere
camp-follower wandering in the no-man’s-land between
religion and medicine: either an expert in the science of
psycho-therapy whose knowledge of the realm of the spirit is
superficial or a spiritual adviser whose amateurish dabbling in
the deep waters of medical psychology lowers the respect of
physicians both for his personal integrity and the faith he
proclaims.
Pastoral Psychology
Is there any other solution to the problem of the spiritual
adviser than his transformation into a psychotherapist?
Against the background of the contemporary conflict
between the religious and the medical attitude to the soul’s needs
something new has been born within the Christian Church. A
new science of pastoral psychology is appearing, developing as
an independent, rational form of treatment for the whole
personality, and claiming recognition alongside both
psychological and physical medicine. It has come into being in
response to a clear demand for what may be called a ‘spiritual
Samaritan service’ from men and women everywhere. It is an
expression of the growing conviction that the Christian message
must concern itself with the whole of personality if it is to be
redemptive in the modern world, where the effects of man’s
spiritual disorders reveal themselves most poignantly in the
mental problems and emotional conflicts from which he suffers.
What is meant by pastoral psychology? As we have already
observed, there can be distinguished two distinct aspects of the
Christian care of souls: the spiritual or supernatural, and the
psychological and inner-worldly. Pastoral psychology means a
specialised development and extension of competence and
responsibility in the psychological realm of man’s nature, not
at the expense of ignoring the supernatural realm, but with the
express purpose of removing the mental barriers which prevent
the spiritual resources of power potential in that realm from
manifesting themselves through personality in the world of
space and time.
This definition must be examined more closely. For this
purpose we must return to the question of what
psychotherapy means. It differs from pure psychology in that its
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