Pastoral Relationship with People with Intellectual ... - Theses

133From a theological perspective Pattison’s questioning of attempted pastoralneutrality is a critique of the systemised form of theological thinking that, whenreceived in isolation from more contextual pastoral forms, nurtures genericconceptualisations of the caring role. For example, with the emergence ofliberation theology in South American slums and base communities in the 1970sa form of practical pastoral theology developed that made claims for a moresecular form of salvation that was to be found amidst the socio-politically andsocio-economically constituted poor. It challenged Christian theology andpastoral practice to engage with this context, not from the long-held andtraditional basis of that which was of ultimate concern, but of that which affectedthe oppressive socio-political circumstances of the poor. In doing so it challengedthe theological neutrality of systematic theology which, Pattison asserts, servesthe dominant socio-political order by implicitly adopting a neutral socio-politicalposition and, therefore, the “interests of the oppressed are hidden.” 368 It alsochallenges the long-standing and dominant notion, going back to the MiddleAges, of pastoral care as principally or solely concerned with the personalencounter between carer and cared.It also serves as a strident critique of the contemporary trend towardsmore globalised forms of theologising. 369 This broad-based perspective isconcerned with a theological form that addresses transnational social, economicand political trends, rather than being cognisant of the presence and activity ofGod and persons at the local, pastoral level. It dangerously serves to dislocateinstitutions from their local context. As pastoral theologian Daniel Louw assertsregarding this global perspective, “[s]ocial institutions are lifted out of socialrelations from local contexts, progressively becoming abstract systems.Institutions become locally decontextualized and create a space separate fromtheir environment." 370The advantage of a pastoral theology and pastoral care that derives itsconceptualisation and practice from within a particular context is that one can368 Pattison, Pastoral Care, 34.369 The case for a more globalised theological approach is argued in,Ott, Craig, and Harold Netland, editors. Globalizing Theology: Belief and Practice in an Eraof World Christianity. (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006).370 Louw, Daniel. "Pastoral Hermeneutics and the Challenge of a Global Economy: Care tothe Living Human Web." The Journal of Pastoral Care & Counselling 56, no. 4 (2002): 339-50, 342.