A practical theology of bereavement care : re-ritualization within a paradigm of comforting presence
Date
2018
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Pieter de Waal Neethling Trust
Abstract
The investigation focuses on a concern for the marginalization of bereaved human
beings in the context of cultural shifts now shaping twenty-first century pastoral care.
The article advocates for a practical theology of bereavement to aid in nurturing care
and eudaimonic well-being (including both vocational pastors and funeral directors)
within the paradigmatic framework of a theopaschitic understanding of compassion
(oiktirmos). The investigation examines the growing threat of deritualization – a
public openness to revise, replace, minimize the significance of, and even eliminate
or avoid long-held funerary rituals to assist in the adaptation of loss. The notion of
re-ritualization is operationalized as an intentional act of restoring and re-engaging
in creative and meaningful ritual forms that give symbolic expression to significant
thoughts and feelings of the bereaved within a social ethos that is no longer committed
to a conventional or fixed approach to ritualization. In order to facilitate a process of
re-ritualization, bereavement care is linked to the notion of “comforting presence”.
Description
CITATION: Gibson, L. & Louw, D. J. 2018. A practical theology of bereavement care : re-ritualization within a paradigm of comforting presence. Stellenbosch Theological Journal, 4(2):521-551, doi:10.17570/stj.2018.v4n2.a24.
The original publication is available at https://ojs.reformedjournals.co.za/stj
The original publication is available at https://ojs.reformedjournals.co.za/stj
Keywords
Bereavemen -- Psychological aspect, Caregivers -- Religious life, Pastoral theology, Pastoral counseling
Citation
Gibson, L. & Louw, D. J. 2018. A practical theology of bereavement care : re-ritualization within a paradigm of comforting presence. Stellenbosch Theological Journal, 4(2):521-551, doi:10.17570/stj.2018.v4n2.a24