Pastoral response to marital alienation

The relationship between law enforcement and predominantly black communities has been characterized by mistrust, violence, and victimization. Recently, this issue has entered into the national conversation, sparked by the deaths of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Sandra Bland, Samuel Dubose, Tamir Rice, Laquan McDonald, and countless other black individuals. The present paper presents the experience of black communities in the United States as an experience of collective and communal trauma. First, collective trauma is conceptualized and distinguished from individual trauma writ large from a sociological perspective with Ignacio Martin Baró and Jeffrey Alexander. Communal trauma is a phenomenon that is different than individual trauma because of its social and communal implications. Next, the experience of black communities in light of consistent patterns of police violence is named as collective trauma. Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow will be used, as well as Atlantic correspondent Ta-Nehisi Coates. The final section proposes a pastoral response to the communal trauma of Black communities, divided into two parts. The first is a look inwards towards organized Christianity’s complicity in the terrorism of Black communities and the benefits that are gained from their subjugation, and the second looks outwards, proposing a stance of solidarity, courage, and righteous indignation that actively works towards the liberation of marginalized communities.

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The meanings in geographical mobility and implications for pastoral response

Pastoral Psychology ◽

10.1007/bf02028779 ◽

1972 ◽

Vol 23 (7) ◽

pp. 46-55

Author(s):

Richard D. Vangerud

Keyword(s):

Geographical Mobility ◽

Pastoral Response

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Tillich at War (1914–18)

10.1093/oso/9780192857859.003.0009 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 182-211

Author(s):

Samuel Andrew Shearn

Keyword(s):

Religious Doubt ◽

The Reformation ◽

Pastoral Response

This chapter studies Tillich’s war sermons, lecture on theodicy, and correspondence with Emanuel Hirsch. Tillich’s sermons exhibit at times a crass war theology; the war must be undoubtable. But religious doubt is given a voice and a pastoral response. Perhaps most strikingly in his Christmas sermons, Tillich speaks about the loss of faith among the soldiers. He also offers an unfinished theodicy with three moments, increasingly emphasizing the weakness and suffering of God. Tillich’s sermon from late October 1917 to mark the 400th anniversary of the Reformation is a clear expression of the justification of the doubter. Tillich subsequently explains and develops this new understanding of ‘faith without God’ in correspondence with Hirsch.

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Does Periodic Continence Harm Spousal Love?: Pope John Paul II’s Response to the Pastoral Difficulties of Living Out Humanae Vitae

The Linacre Quarterly ◽

10.1177/0024363918815456 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 85 (4) ◽

pp. 358-374

Author(s):

Irene Alexander

Keyword(s):

The Body ◽

Humanae Vitae ◽

Theology Of The Body ◽

Pastoral Response ◽

Practical Level

The main reason for the widespread dissent from Humanae vitae is not primarily academic. Rather, dissent arises first on a practical level by couples themselves on account of the difficulty they experience in living out the teaching. More specifically, couples often feel that there is a “contradiction” between the responsible regulation of birth and the unity of their love. This essay addresses this pastoral objection head on through a candid appreciation of the “difficulties” couples experience and through demonstrating Pope John Paul II’s idea of cultivating a “conjugal spirituality,” which moves couples interiorly from merely following rules to fostering reverence both for one’s spouse and for God. Summary: This article provides a pastoral response to the difficulties of living out the teaching of Humanae vitae, by explaining the teaching of Humanae vitae through the lens of Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body. Specifically, I explain John Paul II’s exhortation to couples to develop a “conjugal spirituality” through the virtues, so that they will grow in reverence for their spouse and for God.

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