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Pastoral Care and Liberation Theology
By Stephen Pattison
Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1994. 273 pp. $59.95.
This book is part of the Cambridge Studies in Ideology and Religion series under the general editorship of Duncan Forrester and Alistair Kee. Its author, Stephen Pattison, has been a hospital chaplain and is a lecturer in health and social welfare at the Open University in Milton Keynes, England, as well as a lecturer in theology at Birmingham University. In this book, he expands both the critique and the constructive reframing of pastoral care originally proposed in his earlier essay, A Critique of Pastoral Care. Pattison characterizes this book as an exercise in critical pastoral theology designed to bring about a reorientation in the focus and practice of pastoral care. He successfully argues that liberation theology provides an illuminating critical appraisal of pastoral care for the turn of the millennium and that its methods and implications can and must be understood more fully and applied more consistently in the countries of the Northern hemisphere, such as the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada.
The rationale for this writing project is clearly presented in four points, which are, then, systematically addressed in the subsequent discussion: (1) The social and political dimensions that impinge on the field of pastoral care-and especially the central issue of justice-have tended to be ignored. (2) The theories and methods that have informed contemporary pastoral care have tended to be drawn from the domain of humanistic psychology while disregarding the contributions of sociology, politics, and Social policy. (3) Pastoral care has found it difficult to develop critical theories of action, and practice and theory often betray some kind of pastoral pragmatism while failing to assess and challenge those practices. (4) Pastoral care has largely failed to engage contemporary theologies creatively.
Pattison rightly believes that liberation theology represents one of the most important theoretical and practical challenges to pastoral care today. The main thesis of the book is, therefore, stated thus: "Pastoral care in the Northern hemisphere needs both to be liberated from some of its own practical and theoretical limitations and narrowness, and to
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become socially and politically aware and committed to the cause of those who are oppressed. It is by looking at the practicalities of performing the latter aspect of the task that the former will be thrown into relief." The author then undertakes the task of addressing the ensuing fundamental question that he poses to himself, that is, in what ways can liberation theology illuminate and challenge his concerns and practice in pastoral care? He proceeds to do that by aiming at a fivefold objective: first, to show that liberation theology, indeed, presents a real challenge to the theory and practice of pastoral care in the Northern hemisphere; second, to demonstrate that it is possible to use some of the key insights and methods of liberation theology with integrity to illuminate and transform pastoral practice in that sociohistorical context; third, to indicate ways in which pastoral care can collude with structures of injustice and oppression; fourth, to present analytic tools, methods, and processes needed to uncover those structures; fifth, and most importantly, to convince the readers that their own practice of pastoral care must become more sociopolitically aware and committed to the liberation of the oppressed, as a matter of priority and urgency.
The body of the book is divided into three parts. In the first part, "Liberation Theology," Pattison presents, in three chapters, an overview of this, theological movement, primarily in its Latin American expression,--- as foundational for his own contribution. After discussing background, nature, and methods in the first three chapters respectively, in the fourth chapter, he proposes a five-stage "methodological spiral." This is a revised and adapted version of Juan Luis Segundo's hermeneutic circulation process, which structures the critical-hermeneutical dialogue with liberation theology designed to give direction for the analysis of pastoral care that follows. The second part of the book, "The Socio-political Context of Pastoral Care," consists of seven chapters and flows logically from the previous foundational discussion. Pattison presents here a social and political analysis of pastoral care with mentally ill people in the face of certain key questions, such as, who are the poor and oppressed among us? how are they oppressed? what is the place of pastoral care in their oppression? and how can they be liberated? Further articulation of principles is the agenda of the third part of the book, "The Politics of Pastoral Care." It consists of a more constructive discussion of pastoral care with mentally ill persons that also points to broader and inclusive issues of the politics of pastoral care in general. The author, thus, clearly establishes the need for a sociopolitically aware and committed pastoral care, and he also outlines six basic guidelines for such an approach. In the final chapter, Pattison's proposal is extended to the situation of pastoral care of women.
This volume is a splendid contribution to "transcultural hermeneutics." Indeed, Pattison does a superb job of interpreting the significance and the relevance of Latin American liberation theology in light of his own context and for the sake of the ministry of pastoral care. Not only is Pattison well informed and articulate, but he also writes with passion. A
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couple of critical remarks are, nevertheless, in order: For the sake of consistency, he could have been more critical of some of the materials he uses, such as the Marxist perspective and analysis of social reality, which, although very useful, needs to be corrected and supplemented. Second, the proposal of a "methodological spiral" could be further strengthened by explicitly linking it with complementary liberationist views on epistemology, theology, and method (for instance, regarding the priority of commitment to justice in light of human hope as well as the biblical symbol and promise of God's reign as starting point; and integrating the socioanalytic mediation with the hermeneutical and the practical mediations, that is, the inclusion of concrete pastoral action as integral to the twofold process of caring and theological reflection).
This book is a timely and welcome contribution and is highly recommended. Its content nicely supplements recent and ongoing work on the social, political, and economic context of pastoral care. It also supplies needed foundations and guidelines for the consideration of specific situations of social conflict and human suffering.
Daniel S. Schipani
Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary
Elkhart, IN