Christian Pastoral Care and Psychotherapy: A Need for Theoretical Clarity

Abstract

Recently, Christian pastoral care and psychotherapy have shown an increasing interest in embracing each other more than ever before. Theoretical clarity is essential both to maintain the individual identities of the two disciplines and to help practitioners select and apply appropriate resources from each other's discipline when necessary. This article aims to contribute to the limited body of literature by discussing some of the exemplary theoretical commonalities of the two disciplines as well as their distinctions. A review of the existing literature, enriched with practical pastoral experiences and academic work of the authors will help to clarify some of the basic philosophical and anthropological assumptions that have impacts on the actual practices of the two disciplines.

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