Caring Over Troubled Waters: Creative and Critical Pastoral Theological Imaginations in the 21st Century

Abstract

The first issue in volume 31 of the Journal of Pastoral Theology occurs in the wake of one of the most unspeakable acts in the history of the democratic experiment: the insurrectionist terrorist attack on the US nation’s capital as 2020 electoral college votes were being certified, and where five people were killed and dozens more injured. If there was any illusion about safety, security, or normalcy after the contentious presidential election season of 2020, it was shattered at the top of the new year. There is no section of the United States, no institution or organization, or any intellectual or ideological discourse that has been left untouched by the violence and fear precipitated in Washington D.C. All are now forced to wrestle with difficult and painful meaning-making. Social and political divisions are deep as ever. The quest for unity is fragile – and without truth telling, justice, and healing – perhaps even premature. Moreover, these events have forced upon us several questions with which we must contend: (1) Given the risk for human extinction based on the species’ propensity for individualism, self-centeredness, envy, and violence, does self-descriptive terminology like democracy or the greatest nation on earth undermine our capacity for truth-telling, moral agency, and salvation from ourselves? Or, do terms like empire or the Anthropocene Era better capture the essence of the current human and social condition and increase our odds for healing and redemption? (2) Scientific inquiry, objective facts, and truth-telling have been under assault by the power-structure unlike any other time in recent memory. These aggressions against truth have seemingly been perpetuated without guilt or shame. But does the recent assault against truth compel us to revisit our understanding of shame? Could the affective state of shame be useful to pastoral care and its capacity for metanoia and moral revitalization? (3) In the current state of affairs, the demand for pastoral caregiving is probably at an all-time high, and with it, record levels of caregiver burnout and compassion fatigue. But is this burnout solely the result of a high volume of requests for care, or does it reflect a deeper misunderstanding of the spiritual nature of self-care and a debilitating narcissism related to a god-complex? (4) Lastly, in light of the deep divisions in the country, many of which are fueled by religious and spiritual ideology, are we not all compelled to examine our individual and group thought processes for elements of dogma, fundamentalism, or tribalism? That is to say, how might healthy and transformative practices of doubt and ambiguity contribute to life-giving pastoral care? As we begin 2021, the role and value of pastoral theology cannot be overstated. The genius of pastoral theology is evidenced in how pastoral theologians characterize the expansive scope of pastoral theological concerns and methodologies. The articles in this issue not only address these questions, among others, but illustrate both the wide range of pastoral theological concerns and the methodological diversity employed by pastoral theologians. Dr. Samushonga addresses the topic of pastoral burnout, a timely topic in the age of the COVID-19 pandemic. He criticizes the fact that pastoral theologians usually approach the topic of clergy burnout through the lens of psychology without adequate attention to