From Christ to Compassion: The Changing Language of Pastoral Care
The rise of neurology, psychology, and psychiatry over the last 100 years has challenged the clergy's historical monopoly on dealing with “personal problems” and mental well-being. In this study, I document the changing language of pastoral care by analyzing over seventy years of academic artic...
| 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: |
2021
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| In: |
Journal for the scientific study of religion
Year: 2021, Volume: 60, Issue: 2, Pages: 362-381 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Journal of pastoral care & counseling
/ Pastoral conversation
/ Linguistic change
/ Conceptual content
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| IxTheo Classification: | CB Christian life; spirituality CH Christianity and Society RG Pastoral care |
| Further subjects: | B
Historical Sociology
B Pastoral Care B Health B Secularization B Religion B topic modeling |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | The rise of neurology, psychology, and psychiatry over the last 100 years has challenged the clergy's historical monopoly on dealing with “personal problems” and mental well-being. In this study, I document the changing language of pastoral care by analyzing over seventy years of academic articles in the Journal of Pastoral Care and Counseling (N = 4,054) using structural topic modeling. Ultimately, I reveal a linguistic shift from the universal to the particular as pastoral care professionals drop language of human nature and morality for that of individual narratives. I also find a decline of overtly religious language since the 1950s in favor of a more ecumenical language of spirituality, hope, and presence. Both of these trends take place alongside a push for “evidence-based” pastoral care. Together, these linguistic shifts offer insight into a seventy-year struggle to provide authentic religious care in a world of competing alternatives. |
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| ISSN: | 1468-5906 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal for the scientific study of religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1111/jssr.12711 |