David G. Benner - Care of Souls: Revisioning Christian Nurture and Counsel

Care
ofSouls

Also by David G. Benner

Baker Encyclopedia of Psychology (editor)

Psychotherapy in Christian Perspective (editor)

Psychotherapy and the Spiritual Quest

Christian Counseling and Psychotherapy

Psychology and Religion (editor)

Counseling and the Human Predicament: A Study of Sin, Guilt, and Forgiveness (coauthor)

Healing Emotional Wounds

Christian Perspectives on Human Development (coauthor)

Strategic Pastoral Counseling: A Short-Term Structured Model

Understanding and Facilitating Forgiveness (coauthor)

Choosing the Gift of Forgiveness: How to Overcome Hurts and Brokenness (coauthor)

Money Madness and Financial Freedom: The Psychology of Money Meanings and Management

Free at Last: Breaking the Bondage of Guilt and Emotional Wounds

Baker Encyclopedia of Psychology and Counseling, 2d ed. (coeditor)

Care
ofSouls

Revisioning Christian Nurture
and Counsel

David G. Benner

1998 by David G. Benner

Published by Baker Books
a division of Baker Book House Company
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287

and

Paternoster Press
P.O. Box 300, Carlisle, Cumbria, CA3 0QS
United Kingdom

Printed in the United States of America

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form or by any meansfor example, electronic, photocopy,
recordingwithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is
brief quotations in printed reviews.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Benner, David G.

Care of souls : revisioning Christian nurture and counsel / David G. Benner.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 0-8010-9063-6 (pbk.)

1. Pastoral counseling. 2. PsychotherapyReligious aspectsChristianity.

I. Title.

BV4012.2.B36 1998

253.5dc21

98-35618

British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available from the British Library.

U.K. ISBN 0-85364-960-X

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1946, 1952, 1971 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations identified JB are from THE JERUSALEM BIBLE, copyright 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd, Ltd. and Doubleday, a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc. Reprinted by permission.

Scripture quotations identified KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture quotations identified NKJV are from the New King James Version. Copyright 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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To
Margaret Millicent Benner
19201996
a master builder of souls

Contents

This book represents the development of thoughts begun in my now out-of-print Psychotherapy and the Spiritual Quest (1988) and subsequently extended in lectures in North America, Europe, South Africa, and Southeast Asia. Chapters 4 and 6 are based on material previously published in that earlier book. Others began as lectures for the Institute of Clinical Theology, Atlanta, Georgia (chapter 1), Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic (chapter 2), the Institute for Christian Spirituality, Cape Town, South Africa (chapter 5), Wesley Counselling Centre, Singapore (chapter 7), Rhodes University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa (chapter 8), and the Clinical Theology Association, Oxford, United Kingdom (chapter 10). Gratitude impels me to acknowledge the many people who interacted with me in these contexts and whose input has been so formative in this book. The richness of hundreds of hours of dialogue can never be reflected on paper, but more than any of my previous books, this one reflects the contribution of a large number of people, and my name should not stand alone on its title page.

Several people deserve special mention for sharing themselves with me in ways that have greatly influenced this book and my life. My deepest appreciation to Paul and Valmai Welsh, Judy Bassingwaite, Peter and Pat Van de Kastelle, Brenda Joscelyne, Peter Woods, Trevor and Debbie Hudson, Jaro Krivohlavy, Henry Madibo, George Malik, Merran Welsh, Bob and JoAnn Harvey, Gary Moon, Julie and Danny Ng, Tom and Trish Cunningham, Philip and Emilyn Wong, J. Harold Ellens, and Harold Rhoades all fellow soul shepherds. Also, my deepest thanks again to my wife, Juliet, for her soul companionship of so many years. This book would not have been possible, and my life would be less rich, without these people.

Introduction
The Rediscovery of Soul
and the Recovery of Its Care

Until the beginning of the twentieth century, the concept of the soul was a mainstay in the understanding of persons that was advanced by theologians and philosophers and accepted by most people who took the time to reflect on the matter. All this changed quite rapidly in the early twentieth century. Suddenly, the soul became unfashionable. The reasons for this are complex, and a careful exploration of them lies beyond the scope and focus of this book. However, two are particularly noteworthy: the reaction of theologians against the prevailing Platonic view of soul and the rise of modern psychology.

Platos view of the soul had been singularly influential among both philosophers and theologians for two millennia. Corrupting the earlier Hebraic understanding of the nature of persons, the Platonic view emphasized an immortal soul that was imprisoned in a mortal body and yearned for release at death. The rediscovery by theologians of the more holistic Old Testament view of persons led to the discrediting of the Platonic soul and a rejection of the body-soul dualism associated with it. Tainted by its Platonic associations, the concept of soul receded to a back burner in the theological kitchen.

Any conception of soul whatsoever was anathema to modern psychology. This was quite paradoxical since the word psychology literally means the science of the soul. However, under the overriding influence of philosophical positivism, the science of the soul was about to become the science without a soul as psychologists avoided anything unobservable, taking behavior as their focus of study. Seeking to align itself with science and distance itself from religion, modern psychology viewed the soul as unnecessary baggage from its past and sought to avoid it at all costs. Quickly, it became equally irrelevant to most other people in an increasingly materialistic, secular, and psychological culture.

What a surprise, therefore, when suddenly in the last decade the concept of the soul once again made a reappearance. Led by Thomas Moores best-seller, Care of the Soul, publishers quickly recognized a new market and followed with a spate of other titles on the subject. Even more surprising is the fact that this renewed interest in the soul and its care occurs within a context of renewed interest in spirituality. Interest in souls has been accompanied by interest in angels, channeling, meditation, and Gregorian chant. The soul that was rediscovered was, therefore, not some ethereal, immortal, Platonic essence of being, but a very vital, embodied, spiritual core of personality.