At the last Asia Pacific Congress on Pastoral Care and Counseling, in Perth, Australia, in July 2001, the Rev. Dr. Emmanuel Y. Lartey outlined prophetically some of these problems we now face. He spoke of rapid change and flux in the social, economic, cultural, religious, political and personal spheres, producing confusion, uncertainty, fragility, and vulnerability. He emphasized that these conditions exist to different degrees all over the globe simultaneously that it was not the case that any one of these conditions exists in isolation in one geographical area or cultural context. While Lartey called for all of our assumptions to be critically appraised, he also cautioned that it was not true that the condition critiqued ceases to exist. What are we to do? Sounding very much like Boisens call for an empirical theology fifty years earlier, Lartey called for a post-modern, global view of pastoral care and counseling, encompassing both individuals and societies, focusing on the specific. He called for a return
(1) from the general to the particular,
(2) from the universal to the local and contextual, as well as
(3) from the timeless to the timely.
Lartey also spoke bluntly of the problem that not all approaches are positive that developing religious beliefs can be sometimes creative and other times lethal. He raised the issue of universal responsibility of chaplains as agents of respect for the whole-created order of the world. He noted that in response to the need for multi-faith initiatives some religions, just as Boisen would have predicted, are responding to the crisis courageously and innovatively, while others are frozen with fear, dread and anxiety. Lartey called upon chaplains to engage critically and empathically, encouraging and empowering others to work towards creative change of community-destroying structures. While not quite showing the appreciation of empirical method the attitude of humility which is willing to put religious insight to the test that characterized Boisens work, Lartey did call for collaborative work with disciplines outside of theology, toward achieving holistic health for the entire planet. [Lartey, Global Views for Pastoral Care and Counseling ; italics mine] The question becomes, can we step outside our own religion to engage all other religions? Can we listen to the others, speak to the others, and nourish a reasonably objective appreciation from both sides as to what is working and what is not?
We may need to begin closer to home, to gather strength for taking on the world. Boisen called for the recovery of zeal, inner experience, and faith [p.232, RCC] for a living fellowship with a certain body of beliefs in which there is room for growth and for discovery. [p.237, RCC; italics mine] One organization, a theologically based covenant community, has been trying to foster this nurturing environment by actively bringing together groups of chaplains who desire to grow richer in spirit and in soul. [The College of Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy, PO Box 162, New York, NY, 101098, USA; on the web at www.cpsp.org] Let me quote from their Covenant, but as I do so try to imagine these admonitions not as applying to individuals but as applying to societies and religions indeed to all the societies and religions of the world.
We see ourselves as spiritual pilgrims
seeking a truly collegial community.
We commit to being mutually responsible to one another for
our work and direction.
We commit ourselves to a galaxy of shared values
that are as deeply held as they are difficult to communicate.
Again, try to imagine these admonitions as applying to all the societies and religions of the world. Let me continue to quote:
We place a premium on
the significance of the relationships among ourselves.
We value personal authority and creativity.
We believe we should make a space for one another and
stand ready to midwife one another
in our respective spiritual journeys. [italics mine]
That is the phrase that most caught my attention: We stand ready to midwife one another in our respective spiritual journeys. That is, we, or our societies and religions, will help each other through our spiritual transformations, or, in Boisens terms, our re-creations of religious faith. Let me again continue to quote:
Because we believe that life is best lived by grace,
we believe it essential to guard against becoming
invasive, aggressive, or predatory toward each other.
We believe that persons are always more important than institutions .
We are invested in offering a living experience
that reflects human life and faith within
a milieu of a supportive and challenging community of fellow pilgrims. [italics mine]
Does not this covenant sound like Boisens living fellowship with a certain body of beliefs in which there is room for growth and for discovery? [p.237, RCC] Imagine the impact a loose worldwide network of such interfaith groups could have. Just two years ago this covenant community of chaplains underscored its conviction that a clinically trained person is one who is committed to continuing personal transformation. [see the General Secretary's report, 21 March 2003, The College of Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy. Since these chaplains have already been very active in encouraging the formation of indigenous pastoral care and counseling associations throughout the world, it would not be much of a stretch to envision them as committed to working toward a continuing transformation of the world.
As you will recall, Boisen observed that, worldwide, the normal crises of personaldevelopment are integrated socially through religious ceremonies, such as weddings, funerals, etc. Another of the questions facing us now is, what means do we have for integrating the normal crises of social development? Is each society and each religion left to struggle on its own? Remembering Boisens research on four main reactions to crisis, is there a way that part of the world community perhaps a network of clinically trained chaplains might help groups avoid
surrendering to hatred,
withdrawing into lust and greed, and
concealing ones inadequacies through delusion,
but rather succeed in
viewing frankly the true nature of the situation,
such that exceptional crisis might provoke insights that can be integrated into customary life?
Eighty years ago, nowhere in the world did there exist a clinically trained chaplain. Now there are thousands. The movement for clinical pastoral and spiritual training, education, and transformation was ecumenical from the start, and began to spread worldwide within several decades. These programs, however, need to embrace clergy of even more faith groups and to be established in even more nations. Perhaps one of the most important projects to be tackled would be the translation in paraphrase of Boisens call for clinical work, A Challenge to the Seminaries, into as many languages as possible. [Boisen, 1926, in Christian Work 120: 110-112; reprinted in the Journal of Pastoral Care 5: 8-12, 1951] Think of the potential impact on our current crises if there were clinically experienced chaplains attached to every and I do mean every theological school in the world, commited to nourishing the wisdom of perspective and a self-critical stance.[compare Larteys speech from the last Congress, 2001,cited above, in which he spoke of the post- modern approach, in which one attempts to maintain the stance of being in critical vein or in questioning mode.]
Religion in Crisis and Custom. Let us return to the title of Boisens last monograph, published fifty years ago this year. The first major thrust of this presentation outlined religion during crisis and custom the personal discovery and recovery of spirit and soul during extraordinary as well as ordinary times. The second major thrust, however, began a careful consideration of religion itself in crisis and custom the re-creation of religious faith in societies as new revelations and insights initially rest uncomfortably with older ones, during extraordinary as well as ordinary times. Boisens view of transformation for both individuals and societies focused on struggling together, on striving to maintain an honest and thoroughgoing commitment to a process of becoming on becoming the best one can conceive. Boisen emphasized that failures were part of the price paid for attempting to grow to become but that daring efforts must be attempted nonetheless. The burden the challenge is large, but appears unavoidable. We must indeed, as this Congress is charged, maintain our buoyancy and lift up our spirit as we shoulder the immediate worldwide task with which we are confronted. What is being asked now is whether we can come to view our religions, individually and collectively, as having universal responsibilities to promote what Boisen called the finest potentialities of the human race. [p.305, EIW; italics mine]
My questions, once again, are beginning to outnumber my answers. The conclusions from my several historical presentations to the clergy are, however, beginning to add up. A few years ago I noted a first challenge from the past, exemplified by the work of Boisen, that we
(1) maintain the courage to espouse beliefs not initially shared by others.
[Powell, 1999, Whatever ] Somewhat later I noted a second challenge from the past, exemplified by the work of Boisens colleague, Dunbar, that we
(2) maintain the willingness to tackle the apparently impossible task.
[Powell, 1999, Emotionally ] Still later I noted a third challenge from the past, again exemplified by the work of Boisens colleague, Dunbar, that we
(3) maintain the continued ability to create and invent.
[Powell, 2002] Before formulating actually, resurrecting a fourth challenge, let me note several things about the Rev. Dr. Anton Theophilus Boisen in the light of these first three challenges.
He sized up a moral problem, putting insights into print for evaluation by colleagues, and stood strong by his convictions.
He took charge of situations, overcoming the shyness induced by severe mental illness, and started what had to be done.
He remained intrigued by situations, reflecting on complex confusion until finding clarity, and proposed a solution.
I am sure that Boisen would have thoroughly enjoyed reflecting theologically upon recent world events and the ways in which the religious community has or has not engaged and responded. There is no question in my mind that we would be hearing his prophetic voice. In Boisens absence,
(a) can the suffering world not just your region or your community but the world depend upon you to provide the wise leadership needed?
(b) can the broader world depend upon you to size up problems, take on the tasks, and remain intrigued?
(c) can those parts of the world that seem foreign depend upon you to stand strongly by your convictions, get to work without excuses, and encourage novel approaches?
Each time I speak to the clinical pastoral community as an historian, so it seems, I discover and recover one more piece of wisdom from your past. During his latter years Boisen spoke of the broader perspectives with which true religion is concerned. [p.393, What War Does to Religion. this longer version of Chapter VI, RCC is strongly recommended.] He thought deeply about the hardships of the 1930s, the moral issues of World War II, and the worldwide aftermath of war, recognizing the temptation for each party involved to focus primarily on its own situation. Following the precedent of the prophets, Boisen saw the need for clergy to take the lead in expanding and questioning peoples views. This time, the challenge from the past, a fourth, is that the worldwide clinical pastoral and spiritual community
(4) maintain the wisdom of perspective and a self-critical stance,
as it takes seriously the call to transform the world, in times both of crisis and custom.
Thank you for inviting me to share my thoughts on the formation and transformation discovery and recovery of spirit and soul. Shalom
Out of the depths have I cried unto to thee, O Lord. Psalm 130:1 in the Protestant Bible; 129:1, De Profundis, in the Catholic Bible.
A Book which We have revealed to you, in order that you might lead mankind out of the depths of darkness into light . al-Qur'an 14:1.
Endnote for the General Reader:
The Rev. Dr. Anton Theophilus Boisen (1876-1965) is generally credited as the founder, in 1925, of the trained chaplaincy, for hospitals, prisons, the military, and other institutions. These specially trained ministers also now offer pastoral care, counseling, and psychotherapy within parish settings. What eventually became the worldwide movement for clinical pastoral education actually grew out of a delusion Boisen had in 1920 about having broken an opening in the wall which separated medicine and religion. Yes, this was initially a delusion, as Boisen was, at age forty-four, in the midst of his first of six periods of profound psychosis. What makes Boisen different from so many others who have suffered with schizophrenia is that he devoted the last half of his life to working out the practical implications of his delusional insight. The training program he developed for theological students in 1925 has since been copied by most American seminaries, has spread throughout Europe, and is now spreading throughout Asia. His best known book his first that has been republished five times is The Exploration of the Inner World: A Study of Mental Disorder and Religious Experience (1936), which is still widely cited in the literature of religion and psychology. A close runner-up would be his last book, Out of the Depths: An Autobiographical Study of Mental Disorder and Religious Experience (1960). Each of his books and he wrote three more has become a classic in its own right.
Bibliography:
Benyosef, Simcha H.: The Additional Shabbat Soul, in Living the Kabbalah: A Guide to the Sabbath and Festivals in the Teachings of Rabbi Rafael Moshe Luria. New York: Continuum International Publishing Group, 1999. Chapter on the web: http://www.kabbalaonline.org/Holydays/shabbat/The_Additional_Shabbat_Soul.asp
Boisen, Anton Theophilus, editor: Lift Up Your Hearts: A Service Book for Use in Hospitals. Boston: Pilgrim Press, 1926, later re-titled, Hymns of Hope and Courage, 1932, 1937; 4th edition, Chicago: Chicago Theological Seminary, 1950.
Boisen, Anton Theophilus: Out of the Depths: An Autobiographical Study of Mental Disorder and Religious Experience. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1960.
Boisen, Anton Theophilus: Problems in Religion and Life: A Manual for Pastors, with Outlines for the Co-operative Study of Personal Experience in Social Situations. New York: Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, 1946; during World War II, a 1941 lithograph version was in circulation.
Boisen, Anton Theophilus: Religion in Crisis and Custom: A Sociological and Psychological Study. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1955; reprinted, Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1973.
Boisen, Anton Theophilus: The Exploration of the Inner World: A Study of Mental Disorder and Religious Experience. Chicago: Willet, Clark & Co, 1936; reprinted, NY: Harper & Brothers, 1941, 1952, 1962, 1966; Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1971.
Boisen, Anton Theophilus: Personality Changes and Upheavals Arising Out of the Sense of Personal Failure. American Journal of Psychiatry 5: 531-551, 1926; reprinted, American Journal of Psychiatry 151(6 Supplement): 125-33, 1994 [reprint supplement also issued as a hard-cover book, Arlington, VA: APPI, 1994].
Boisen, Anton Theophilus: The Present Status of William James Psychology of Religion. Journal of Pastoral Care Counseling 7:155-162, 1953.
Boisen, Anton Theophilus: What War Does to Religion. Religion in Life 14:389-400, 1945.
Dunbar, Helen Flanders: Symbolism in Medieval Thought and Its Consummation in the Divine Comedy. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1929; reprinted, NY: Russell & Russell, 1961.
Lartey, Emmanuel Y.: Global views for Pastoral Care and Counseling: Post-modern, post-colonial, post-Christian, post-human, post-pastoral. Address given at the 7th Asia Pacific Congress on Pastoral Care and Counseling, Perth, Western Australia, 15th July 2001; on the web athttp://www.pastoralpsychologie.de/downloads/Lartey.doc
Lawrence, Raymond J.: The Trouble with Spirituality. Contra Mundum: A Journal of Theological & Clinical Reflection, issue #91, January 12, 2001; hard copy: P. O. Box 2535, Times Square Station, New York, NY 10108; on the web:http://www.contramundum.com
More, Thomas: Soul Talk. Comments during an interview by Rachel Kohn, on the radio program, The Spirit of Things. 30 March 2003; on the web:http://www.abc.net.au/rn/relig/spirit/stories/s816062.htm
Powell, Robert Charles: Anton T. Boisen (1876-1965): "Breaking an Opening in the Wall between Religion and Medicine, pp.47, special supplement to the AMHC Forum, 29(1), October 1976 [Association of Mental Health Chaplains > Association of Professional Chaplains].
Powell, Robert Charles: Anton T. Boisen's Psychiatric Examination: Content of Thought (c. 1925-31): An Attempt to Grasp the Meaning of Mental Disorder. Psychiatry 40 (4): 369-75. 1977.
Powell, Robert Charles: Healing and Wholeness: Helen Flanders Dunbar (1902-1959) and an Extra-Medical Origin of the American Psychosomatic Movement, 1906-1936. Ph.D. dissertation, Department of History, Medical Historian Training Program, Duke University, 1974.
Powell, Robert Charles: "Questions from the Past (on the Future of Clinical Pastoral Education). Keynote address, presented before the 50th Anniversary Conference, Association for Clinical Pastoral Education, Minneapolis, October 1975. 1975 Conference Proceedings: 1-21, 1976.
Powell, Robert Charles: Whatever Happened to CPE -- Clinical Pastoral Education? Keynote address, presented at the 9th Plenary Meeting, of the College of Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy, March 1999, Virginia Beach.
______________
Dr. Robert Powell is a renowned scholar in the field of the Clinical Pastoral Movement. The Pastoral Report is honored to have been given permission to publish Formation and Transformation Discovery and Recovery of Spirit and Soul: Religion in Crisis and Custom .