Pastoral Care And Counseling [PS1015]

Instructional team

One-Choul Rhau
Lewis Rambo [LewisRambo@aol.com; 415-258-6582]

Course description

This course is designed to introduce seminarians to the field of pastoral care and counseling. The congregation is the matrix of pastoral psychology. The context of the congregation is a dynamic, multicultural society and world. The resources of contemporary psychology, especially family systems theory, personality theory, and therapeutic theories and methods, will be deployed to sensitize students to a variety of modes of understanding, healing, and intervention. Recent developments in multicultural studies, practical theology, and congregational studies inform our approach to systems of nurture, care, and discipline. The course utilizes diverse styles of teaching and learning: lectures, discussions, case studies, films, and intensive group experiences involving role-playing and feedback.

Assumptions

The fundamental goal of Christian ministry is to enable persons, individually and communally, to embrace Jesus Christ and the liberating power of the gospel. Persons are intimately connected with social, cultural, and religious systems. These bonds may enmesh, enslave, or enliven. Compassionate and sophisticated pastoral ministry participates in the faith community's mission of service and transformation.

The field of psychology [within the framework of the human sciences—anthropology and sociology], especially personality theory, family systems theory, life cycle theory, and counseling techniques inform pastoral care and counseling processes. Pastors must also develop critical skills that cultivate dialectical approaches to theology and psychology.

The pastor's personhood is foundational to ministry. Hence, self-care, and ongoing spiritual, psychological, and intellectual growth are fundamental to a pastor's capacity for optimal pastoral care and counseling.

The goals of the course include

1. building a solid foundation on which to sustain a life long learning process of acquiring the knowledge and skills necessary to engage in quality pastoral care and counseling;
2. learning how to actively listen and observe with empathy;
3. cultivating sensitivity to, knowledge of, and skills relevant to cultural, racial-ethnic, class, and gender issues ;
4. gaining personal knowledge of one's own family of origin ;
5. confronting and working through grief and loss as a central component in the life of the church and pastor;
6. understanding and engaging transference and countertransference issues—leadership dynamics and involvement with people in the congregation;
7. developing clear understanding of ethically and professionally appropriate roles and behaviors for the pastor, thus preventing misuse of power and violation of sexual boundaries; and,
8. encouraging students to learn methods of self-care , for example, to experience directly pastoral counseling, psychotherapy, and/or spiritual direction.

The goals of the class are integrally related to the Habits and Virtues as described in the SFTS catalogue. The phrases in bold type are of special relevance to Pastoral Care and Counseling.

San Francisco Theological Seminary, as a community of students, faculty, and administrators, seeks to inculcate and practice the following habits or virtues:

• knowledge of and respect for the Church and its mission
• knowledge of, respect for, and intelligent use of its manifold tradition; a sense of how and why theological reasoning has been done in earlier times
• personal integrity, reflecting a healthy sense of self, healthy relations with other persons in which ethically appropriate behavior is enacted, boundaries respected, and compassion exercised, and a well nurtured relationship with God
• a sense of the impact of cultural and political situations on life and thought ; critical awareness in the interpretation of evidence on which historical knowledge is founded
• a sense for grounding theology in practical reality ; awareness that theoretical reflection builds on practical wisdom and theological propositions must be tested by their consequences for the persons or congregations that hold them
• sensitivity to contrasting experiences and cultures and respect for otherness in the faith
• hermeneutical responsibility in the interpretation of Scripture and all communication; ability to represent accurately the words and meanings of others and to account for one's interpretation

SFTS seeks to train ministers who, girded with these virtues, demonstrate certain skills as appropriate to the form of ministry and service to the Church to which they are called. Among these are the ability to:

• lead a congregation in Reformed worship
• preach literate, thoughtful, scripture-based sermons
• provide pastoral care and counseling
• educate a congregation in the faith
• manage the practical affairs of a congregation
• articulate the global witness and mission of the church and foster participation in its evangelistic task
• articulate personal faith and nurture the spiritual life of a congregation
• lead in ethical witness to society, challenging public evil and cultivating the common good
• apply their M.Div. training in non-congregational ministries

Required books

• Bingaman, Kirk A. 2003. Freud and Faith: Living in the Tension . Albany: State University Press of New York.
• Cooper-White, Pamela. 2003. Shared Wisdom: Use of the Self in Pastoral Care and Counseling . Minneapolis: Fortress Press.
• Neuger, Christie Cozad. 2003. Counseling Women: A Narrative, Pastoral Approach . Minneapolis: Fortress Press.
• Taylor, Charles W. 1991. The Skilled Pastor: Counseling as the Practice of Theology . Minneapolis: Fortress Press.

Recommended

• Ammerman, Nancy T.; Jackson W. Carroll, Carl S. Dudley, William McKinney, eds. 1998. Studying Congregations: A New Handbook . Nashville: Abingdon Press.
• Augusburger, David W. 1986/1995. Pastoral Counseling Across Cultures . Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press.
• Bulkeley, Kelly. 2003. Dreams of Healing: Transforming Nightmares into Visions of Hope . New York: Paulist Press.
• Rediger, G. Lloyd. 2003. Beyond the Scandals: A Guide to Healthy Sexuality for Clergy . Minneapolis: Fortress Press.
• Steinke, Peter L. 1993. How Your Church Family Works: Understanding Congregations as Emotional Systems . Washington: Alban Institute.
• Steinke, Peter L. 1996. Healthy Congregations: A Systems Approach . Washington: Alban Institute.
• van Beek, Aart M. 1996. Cross-Cultural Counseling . Minneapolis: Fortress Press.

Supplementary

• Ali, Carroll A. Watkins. 1999. Survival and Liberation: Pastoral Theology in African American Context . Saint Louis: Chalice Press.
• Glaz, Maxine and Jeanne Stevenson Moessner, eds. 1991. Women in Travail and Transition: A New Pastoral Care . Minneapolis: Fortress Press.
• Gorsuch, Nancy J. 2001. Introducing Feminist Pastoral Care and Counseling. Pilgrim Press.
• Lee, Wanda M. L. 1999. An Introduction to Multicultural Counseling . Philadelphia: Accelerated Development.
• McGoldrick, Monica; Randy Gerson, and Sylvia Shellenberger, Sylvia. 1999/1985. Genograms: Assessment and Intervention , 2 nd ed. New York: W.W. Norton.
• Miller-McLemore, Bonnie J. and Brita L. Gill-Austern, eds. 1999. Feminist and Womanist Pastoral Theology. Nashville: Abingdon Press.
• Mishne, Judith. 2002. Multiculturalism and the Therapeutic Process . New York: Guilford Press.
• Moessner, Jeanne Stevenson, ed. 1996. Through the Eyes of Women: Insights for Pastoral Care . Minneapolis: Fortress Press.
• Neuger, Christie Cozad and James Newton Poling, eds. 1997. The Care of Men . Nashville: Abingdon Press.
• Rambo, Lewis R. 1983. The Divorcing Christian . Nashville: Abingdon Press.
• Rambo, Lewis R. 1993. Understanding Religious Conversion . New Haven: Yale University Press.
• Roland, Alan. 1988. In Search of Self in India and Japan: Toward a Cross-Cultural Psychology. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
• Seeley, Karen M. 2000. Cultural Psychotherapy: Working with Culture in the Clinical Encounter. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson, Inc.
• Smith, Jr., Archie. (1997) Navigating the Deep River: Spirituality in African American Families. Cleveland: United Church Press.
• Stevenson-Moessner, Jeanne, ed. 2000. In Her Own Time: Women and Developmental Issues in Pastoral Care . Minneapolis: Fortress Press.
• Sue, Derald Wing and David Sue. 2003. Counseling the Culturally Diverse: Theory and Practice, 4th ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Van Beek, Aart M. 1996. Cross-Cultural Counseling. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.

Requirements

1. Attending and participating regularly in class, completion of required readings, and completion of written assignments. Please email at least one question/observation/critique of the readings to the instructional team. [You are also invited to criticize or make suggestions to the teaching faculty about the quality of teaching, organization, readings, etc. in the course.]

2. Write an autobiography of no more than 3 pages. You must also submit a genogram.

3. Please include information about your life history that would be helpful for the faculty members to know about you. Due March 12. Email to: LewisRambo@aol.com .

4. Prepare two brief [no more than 3 pages] verbatims of a pastoral care and counseling role play or an actual situation. # 1 Due March 19. # 2 Due April 16.

5. Prepare a brief [no more than 1 page] response paper Bingaman's Freud and Faith . Due March 19.

6. Prepare a brief [no more than 1 page] critique of Neuger's Counseling Women . Due May 7.

7. Prepare a brief [no more than 1 page] critique of Cooper-White's Shared Wisdom . Due May 7.

8. Multicultural paper : Prepare a brief [no more than 4 pages] paper about a racial ethnic group (other than your own). You may use an interview with a person, a visit to a church, a review of a film from a particular group, a novel, an important piece of music, etc. For resources for this paper, go to my website at: http://www.sfts.edu/rambo/.
   
   At the top of the page find the Resources bar. Click the drop down bar, and there you can find resources on Native Americans, African Americans, Latino/a Americans, and Asian Americans. Due May 7.

9. Write an integration paper of no more than 5 pages. Your paper must explore some fundamental issue in pastoral care and counseling or a basic issue in your own life. The format may vary according to the needs of the project. Please consult with a member of the instructional team for suggestions and resources. Due May 15.

10. All written work must be in 12 point font, double spaced, with one inch margins on right, left, top, and bottom. You may, if you wish, turn in written work earlier than the dates indicated. The dates listed above are to be seen as the latest date possible for each written piece. Papers turned in after the due dates are automatically reduced in grade by one letter each week.

Grading processes

Weight of each component:

Schedule for Spring Semester:

February 20-21, 2004

Friday, February 20, 6:45-10:00 pm

Introduction to pastoral care and counseling
Religion and Psychology
Psychology of Religion
Religion and Psychological Studies
History of pastoral care and counseling
Theory and practice of pastoral care and counseling

Case Study: “The Legacy of Unresolved Guilt” video

Saturday, February 21, 9:00-noon and 2:00-5:00 pm

9:00—12:00: Case Study: “The Legacy of Unresolved Guilt” continued
Introduction to Neuger and Taylor
Ministry with the Grieving

12:00—2:00 lunch

2:00—5:00: Small group role playing
Case Study: “The Legacy of Unresolved Guilt” continued
Introduction to Bingaman
Theories: Multiple Perspectives and Practice: Creative and Adaptive
Genograms and Family Systems Theory

Required readings:
Neuger—Preface, ix-xi; Chapter 1: Setting the Stage, 1-32
Neuger—Chapter 2: Building the Frame, 33-64
Bingaman--Introduction, 1-10
Bingaman--Chapter 1: Freud's Interpretation of Religion, 11-44
Taylor—Introduction: Becoming a Skilled Pastor, 1-14
Taylor—Chapter 1: Attending, 15-30

March 12: Due: Autobiographical Paper [ Please send the autobiographical paper to LewisRamb@aol.com ]

March 19-20, 2004

Friday, March 19, 6:45-10:00 pm

Due: Genogram, Verbatim 1, and Critique of Freud and Faith

Sigmund Freud and Psychoanalysis
Discussion of Neuger and Taylor

Saturday, March 20, 9:00-noon and 2:00-5:00 pm

9:00—12:00 Case Study— Rev. One-Cheol Rhau, D.Min.

12:00—2:00 Lunch

2:00-5:00
Discussion of Bingaman
Grief in Multicultural Perspective
Alfred Adler: Life Style, Community Feeling, and “Individual” Psychology

Required readings:
Neuger—Chapter 3: Helping Women Come to Voice, 65-92
Neuger—Chapter 4: Coming to Voice in the Context of Intimate Violence, 93-126
Bingaman--Chapter 2: What Freud Can and Cannot Teach the Religious Believer, 45-74
Bingaman--Chapter 3: The Psychical Role of God, 75-104
Bingaman--Chapter 4: The Relation Between Religious and Gender Psychology, 105-130
Bingaman--Chapter 5: Beyond Either-Or: Toward a Constructive Reengagement with Freud, 131-146
Taylor—Chapter 2: Responding, 31-44
Taylor—Chapter 3: Assessing, 45-57

April 16-17, 2004

Friday, April 16, 6:45-10:00 pm

Due: Verbatim 2 and Critique of The Skilled Pastor

Carl G. Jung and Analytical Psychology
Discussion of Neuger and Taylor

Saturday, April 17, 9:00-noon and 2:00-5:00 pm

9:00—12:00 Case Study: Presented by Rev. Don Oliver, Ph.D.

12:00-2:00 Lunch

2:00—5:00 Discussion of Bingaman and Cooper-White
The Matrix of Self: Community, Culture, Religion, and Society
[See website for Multicultural Resources]
Multicultural Pastoral Care and Counseling

Required Reading:
Neuger—Chapter 5: Helping Women Gain Clarity, 127-148
Neuger—Chapter 6: Gaining Clarity in the Context of Depression, 149-178
Taylor—Chapter 4: Theological Assessment, 61-80
Taylor—Chapter 5: Proclamation, 81-102
Cooper-White--Introduction: 1-9
Cooper-White--Chapter 1: Countertransference: a History of a Concept, 9-25
Cooper-White--Chapter 2: The History of Countertransference in Pastoral Care and Counseling, 26-34
Cooper-White--Chapter 3: The Relationship Paradigm: Postmodern Concepts of Countertransference and Intersubjectivity, 35-60
Cooper-White--Chapter 4: The Relational Paradigm in Pastoral Assessment and Theological Reflection, 61-85

May 7-8, 2004

Friday, May 7, 6:45-10:00 pm

Due: Multicultural paper, Critique of Shared Wisdom

Healing Relationships: The Heart of Pastoral Care and Counseling
Clergy Sexual Ethics

Saturday, May 8, 9:00-noon and 2:00-5:00 pm

9:00—12:00 Case Studies: Lewis Rambo: Focus on Self Care and Clergy Sexual Ethics

2:00—5:00 Referral: Connecting to Community Resources
Church as Healing Community
Advanced Training in Pastoral Care and Counseling: Clinical Pastoral Education and the American Association of Pastoral Counselors
Spiritual Direction, Pastoral Care, and Pastoral Counseling: Converting into the Image of Christ
Summary and Conclusions

Required readings for May 7-8:
Neuger—Chapter 7: Helping Women Make Choices, 179-196
Neuger—Chapter 8: Making Choices in the Context of Aging, 197-228
Neuger—Chapter 9: Conclusion: Helping Women Stay Connected, 229-240
Taylor—Chapter 6: Resources for Change, 103-119
Taylor—Chapter 7: Guidance, 121-136
Taylor—Chapter 8: Conclusion: The Metanoia Model, 137-141
Cooper-White--Chapter 5: The Relational Paradigm in Pastoral Care, 86-130
Cooper-White--Chapter 6: The Relational Paradigm in Pastoral Psychotherapy, 131-180
Cooper-White--Chapter 7: Toward a Relational Theology: God-in-Relation, 181-194

May 15

Due: Integration paper