Introductory notes for readers of this thesis - Theses - Flinders ...

A good starting point for examining the literature reflecting this movement, anddiscerning its relevance to a spirituality of silence, and for a way forward into postmodernWestern cultures, is the narrative of Eugene Peterson: spiritual author, North Americanpastor, and later spirituality professor at Regent College 86 . Peterson entered local churchministry with a strong sense of idealism about helping everyday people to grow in faithand to have a sense of the Kingdom of God. He found instead that the culture andstructure of his congregation was designed to employ a pastor to ‘run the church’ and actas a chaplain to the existing culture, and uncritically offering religious endorsement to theAmerican way. He notes that he became determined to disentangle himself from thisstructural/cultural situation in order to remain true to his sense of vocation. He found thatthe conceptual help and guidance to support his conviction was not to be found in any ofthe contemporary literature on church leadership. He notes that he had to go back somecenturies to find the support he needed—and found—in the vocational concept, ‘cure ofsouls’.The primary sense of cura in Latin is ‘care,’ with undertones of ‘cure.’ The soul isthe essence of the human personality. The cure of souls, then, is the Scripturedirected,prayer-shaped care that is devoted to persons singly or in groups, insettings sacred or profane. It is a determination to work at the centre, to87concentrate on the essential .Points of connection with Peterson’s reflections on working from the centre areimmediately recognisable in SQ and contemporary commentary around spirituality asvalues-based meaning-making. Peterson observed that pastors used to do ‘cure of souls’in-between Sundays before they became consumed with the ‘busy-ness’ of ‘running achurch’. Strengthened by his understanding of the essential pastoral model of thetradition, Peterson determined to re-order his own priorities in order to• attend to his own spiritual growth;• facilitate worship gathering;• be with individuals and groups to fulfill his role as spiritual mentor.86 As described and theorized by Peterson in The contemplative pastor- returning to the art of spiritualdirection (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1989) and ‘The business of making saints,’ Leadership 18 (2)(Spring, 1997): 20-28.87 The contemplative pastor, 57.216