Conversation Under the Sign of the Resurrection: Developing a Resurrection Lens for Pastoral Praxis

The purpose of this article is to present Eduard Thurneysen’s practical-theological reading of the Nicodemus narrative as a way to demonstrate the importance of developing a resurrection hermeneutic for the praxis of pastoral care. I will argue that Thurneysen’s kerygmatic approach to pastoral care is of enduring value for pastoral theology and practice today. Though aspects of his pastoral theology are a clear product of his own time and place, Thurneysen’s pastoral theological approach is urgently needed in the teaching of pastoral care today, which often neglects the character of pastoral conversation as an opportunity to encounter the living Lord. If pastoral conversation is eschatologically oriented, it will challenge many of the assumptions of how it is actually practiced today.