Pastoral Relationship with People with Intellectual ... - Theses

136However, whilst claiming an instructive role in contemporary pastoral care, heconcedes that the authority of this role is undermined by the individualistic searchfor truth which stands in contrast to more universal and inerrant doctrinalconceptualisations. 376Clebsch and Jaekle claim a stronger case for the abiding legacy ofpastoral care as the ministry of the cure of souls, a definition they maintain asrelevant, in reinterpreted form, across their eight identified historic epochs ofpastoral care. In elaborating on this concept, they describe such a ministry as onethat, “... consists of helping acts, done by representative Christian persons,directed toward the healing, sustaining, guiding, and reconciling of troubledpersons whose troubles arise in the context of ultimate meanings andconcerns.” 377 This bears close relation to the classical model of pastoral care asthe Solicitous Shepherd, that is, the Christian who, on the one hand is akin to theshepherd’s guidance of wayward sheep, offering tender care to an individual attheir point of need. 378 On the other hand, it also bears relation to the courageousShepherd who takes as his or her standard Jesus the Good Shepherd who “laysdown his life for the sheep” (John 10:11). 379 In the tendering of such care, thecarer continues the classical tradition of pastoral ministry as that which givespractical expression to the Christian gospel.Amidst these understandings, pastoral care is understood as that which isperformed by duly-appointed Christians to individuals who need care beyond therepertoire of their self-care resources. Clebsch and Jaekle assert that true pastoralcare only takes effect when it can evoke “profound concerns and raise questionsabout fundamental meanings ...” 380 While this may be so the historic recordpoints to examples of care offered by the church and Christian individuals of amore temporal character even if, on occasion, still associated with concepts of376 Campbell, Rediscovering Pastoral Care, 3-5.377 Clebsch and Jaekle, Pastoral Care in Historical Perspective, 4. Italics are those of authors.378 Hiltner, Seward. "The Solicitious Shepherd." In Images of Pastoral Care: ClassicReadings, edited by Robert Dykstra, 47-53. (St. Louis: Chalice Press, 2005), 51.379 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Holy Bible,New Testament, 103.See,Campbell, Alastair. "The Courageous Shepherd." In Images of Pastoral Care: ClassicReadings, edited by Robert Dykstra, 54-61. (St. Louis: Chalice Press, 2005).380Clebsch and Jaekle, Pastoral Care in Historical Perspective, 6.