LIBERTY UNIVERSITY JOHN W. RAWLINGS SCHOOL OF DIVINITY
Listening: Bridging practical theology, pastoral counselling and Postmodernism
A Paper Submitted to
the Faculty of the School of Divinity
in Candidacy for the Degree of
Doctor of Education in Christian Leadership (Ed. D) Department of Christian Leadership and
Church Ministries
By
Mary Gracias
Lynchburg, Virginia
10/2022
Listening: Bridging practical theology, pastoral counselling and Postmodernism
According to Van Wyk (1995):
Practical theology is intent on being part of the theological sciences. Although practical
theologians would admit that it is a 'how-science', its role is not that of searching for techniques
or for rules on how to conduct religious meetings, etc. It is a procedure which involves scientific
researching and description of certain events and communicative actions. Practical theology
cannot accept the claims sometimes made by other theological disciplines to the effect that
they produce universal theories which can open up reality in its entirety and which are capable
of interpreting all phenomena. According to this view, practical theology makes no contribution
to the epistemology of the theological disciplines. Rather, practical theology is intent on being
the theory of practice. It is intimately concerned with praxis in worship and faith. However, its
approach to praxis is not pragmatic, but critical-analytical. (p. 17)
Müller (2005) asserts that:
Practical Theology happens whenever and wherever there is a reflection on practice, from
the perspective of the experience of the presence of God. There are obviously various levels of
Practical Theology. It can be very spontaneous, informal and local. It can also be very formal,
systematic and organized. It can be part of ministerial activities on the congregational level, or it
can be highly academic on university level. In any case, it is always guided by the moment of
praxis (always local, embodied, and situated). (p. 2)
A narrative-based approach to doing theological research is central to Müller's (2003)
conception of practical theology and is another way of understanding and using a qualitative
method as a research paradigm:
The aim of research is to listen to stories and to be drawn into those stories. We do not
strive for objectivity, but rather for subjective integrity, with a method of participatory
interaction. (p. 7)
Furthermore, referring to the work of Pattison and Woodward, Müller's (2003) notion of
pastoral or practical theology is:
At its best, like cultural anthropology ... It needs to pay minute attention to seeing and
understanding a particular phenomenon and to listen before moving into carefully chosen
words. Contextuality and situationally sensitive pastoral theologies will be modest in their
claims and assertions. (p. 7)
Müller's description of practical theology affirms the art and science of pastoral
counselling, or what Wise (1983) advocated as pastoral psychotherapy, and restores to it its
religious values orientation, as well as the importance of the multiple meanings of its context of
practice and the active role that both the pastoral counsellor and his or her counselee, or what
Müller (2005) refers to as researcher and co-researcher, play in the listening-healing
relationship.
So much can be said in just a few words and so much meaning can be implied by a few
words that are either sung, spoken and/or written. A conversation between two people can
affect their quality of life. A conversation can be 'crucial' because it can be 'transformative'
(Patterson et al. 2002:2). A postmodern approach to understanding pastoral counselling is ever
evolving because its dynamic encourages that the pastoral counsellor see the counselee as the
pastoral counsellor's teacher. Both of them seriously take into account their cultural, gender-
based, social, political, economic and sexual orientation that help to shape how they each see
themselves and the nature of human suffering and potential. Each of Müller's (2005) seven
movements in his 'A postfoundationalist HIV-positive practical theology' paper are involved in
the understanding and interpretive process of pastoral counselling and care and provide aid at
each stage of deep listening, understanding and reflection. Remaining curious, suspending
judgement about the value of a phenomenon, an emotion or thought, embracing a 'not
knowing stance' when in the presence of those who are suffering or troubled and holding in
balance valuing the scientific search for truth with the beauty that is embedded in the art of
human beings listening and responding to one another as they investigate the meaning each
gives to their experiences, are all acts of love. This way of discovering new knowledge, ways of
knowing or a new epistemology is an outcome of this kind of loving relationship between the
counsellor and counselee (i.e. co-researchers).
It can be argued that Wise's (1983) definition of psychotherapy, given earlier and restated
here, is a traditional or foundational developed world conception of what psychotherapy
means:
By psychotherapy we mean a process, engaged in by two or more persons in which one is
accepted as a healer or helper, who aims at assisting the other to change feelings, attitudes,
and behavior, or, in other words, become in some ways a different person. Psychotherapy deals
with intrapsychic processes, with interpersonal relationships, and with the person's response to
his total environment, including his cultural milieu. (p. 3)
It implies that the counsellor who operates from this framework brings to bear on his or
her interpretation of the counselee's story a judgement about how and what 'feelings',
'attitudes' and 'behaviour' the counselee wishes to change; that, in fact, changing the counselee
is the goal of the conversation. In this model of treatment, the reality of the counselee is
reconstructed by the interpretive reality of the counsellor. Cornett's (1998) understanding of
psychotherapy in relationship to a counselee's view of spirituality can be applied to other
beliefs or views a counselee holds and is a slightly different expectation of a goal of therapy
than that advocated by Wise. Cornett (1998) writes:
One of the most helpful things that therapy can do with regard to spirituality is not to
change a client's view but to amplify it or bring it into sharper focus so that the client my
scrutinize it more carefully and decide whether it truly fits the individual circumstance of lie. (p.
38)
Cornett's approach to doing psychotherapy reflects a postfoundationalist-like perspective
on the nature of a counselling relationship. The rationalist or scientific positivism paradigm is
dominant in developed world thought. This philosophical orientation has value and should be
respected but it is only one way of interpreting human experience. The emphasis Cornett
(1998:12) cautions us about is that: 'human behavior is explainable, predictable, and ultimately
controllable with accurate knowledge and the application of that knowledge' limits our
exploration and understanding of how the historical and cultural context of people and groups
construct and live into the reality they create. There is no purely objective conception or
research orientation to the development of any theory or to practical theology. It seems to me
that a more diverse methodology of working with people and perspective on interpreting
human experience is looked upon with suspicion by some academics and practical theologians.
This is unfortunate.
Pastoral theological thinking and Postmodernism as black theology
The attempt to have a meta, or an overall and overreaching, theory and method of helping
people to fit all groups can be less than helpful and even harmful to some people and
communities. In the USA during the 1970s and 1980s, for example, a theological discourse
emerged as black theology or the black liberation theology movement. This movement
revolutionised theological education and ministerial practices in the USA and influenced the
black struggle against apartheid in South Africa. Cone (1969:120) wrote, 'Black Theology knows
no authority more binding than the experience of oppression itself. This alone must be the
ultimate authority in religious matters.' Cone later (1970) defined theology as:
a rational study of the being of God in the world in light of the existential situation of an
oppressed community, relating the forces of liberation to the essence of the gospel, which is
Jesus Christ. (p. 66)
Howard Thurman (1976), much earlier in his Jesus and the disinherited, proposed a
theology of God being on the side of the oppressed and the need for African-Americans and the
church as a whole to interpret the life and teaching of Christ to confront and transform the
situation of a racist society in which both black and white people found themselves. In a real
sense, the work of scholars such as Thurman and Cone predates the idea of a postfoundational
perspective of doing theological research and practical theology. Critiques and supporters of
Cone's propositions are too numerous to justly review here.
Like Cone and Thurman, Wimberly (1979, 1982, 2000, 2006) and Martin and Martin (1995,
2002) advance a theological hermeneutical reflexive praxis and practice of pastoral and
counselling care of African-Americans in the context of their situation of oppression in America.
Wimberly's (2006) comment is worth noting fully here as a further example of postmodern
practical theological thinking:
In this context of internalized racism, the role of pastoral counseling is to enable
individuals, married couples, families and mediating structures that bridge between the
individual and the wider society to edit or re-author the negative internalized stories and
identities that African Americans have embraced. The editing needs to facilitate and enable us
to participate fully in society. Such editing is understood as a practice of the self that enables
individuals and small groups of people to alter the way they have been recruited into identities
that are oppressive and self-destructive. Editing is also a practice of care exhibited by caregivers
who create safe environments and provide help and prompting in understanding evil of the
past and the possibilities for the future that are necessary for persons to revise and re-author
the internalized negative stories frustrating their growth and development. Practices of the self
and practices of care are inherently political processes . The terms 'practice of self and practices
of care' are rooted in the practices of conversation and recruiting. (pp. 22, 23)
