Teaching Theological Empathy to Distance Learners of Intercultural Spiritual Care
What is empathy, and why is it essential to intercultural spiritual care? I posit that intercultural spiritual care requires theological empathythe reflexive capacity to imagine how another's emotions generate a lived theology or orienting system that makes sense' given their family and...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Springer Science Business Media B. V.
[2018]
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| In: |
Pastoral psychology
Year: 2018, Volume: 67, Issue: 5, Pages: 461-474 |
| IxTheo Classification: | FB Theological education RG Pastoral care |
| Further subjects: | B
Theological empathy
B Distance learning B Theologian literacy B Social empathy B Empathy B Theological reflexivity B Intercultural spiritual care |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) |
| Summary: | What is empathy, and why is it essential to intercultural spiritual care? I posit that intercultural spiritual care requires theological empathythe reflexive capacity to imagine how another's emotions generate a lived theology or orienting system that makes sense' given their family and cultural contexts. Can theological empathy be taught in distance learning? If so, how? What kind of outcome measures do we need to assess clinical and theological empathy in religious leaders and chaplains? I explore these questions by first drawing upon psychological research on empathy. I describe the shifting role of empathy within the goals of pastoral and spiritual care. I elaborate a definition of intercultural, spiritually oriented theological empathy that includes theological literacy and reflexivity and the use of spiritual practices in emotional regulation. I describe and illustrate how distance learning offers unique opportunities for modeling and assessing intercultural empathic skills in spiritual care. |
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| ISSN: | 1573-6679 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Pastoral psychology
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1007/s11089-018-0812-6 |