Abstract
This article is the second in a series of two on the topic of Christian anthropology as it relates to pastoral theology. In this article I shall continue to try to address some fundamental issues in the development of a Christian anthropology in a manner which is consistent with, and grows out of, the bedrock of the Christian tradition about human beings, and, when correlated with some modern reflections on the nature of the self, can prove useful in providing a relatively consistent theory of human life for pastoral care and counseling and other aspects of practical theology. First, a conception of spirit will be presented, as representing a central motif of the Christian tradition's understanding of human beings. This conception of spirit will then be discussed in relation to a conception of self which was developed in the first essay, “The ‘Self,’ Its Vicissitudes and Possibilities: An Essay in Theological Anthropology,” published inPastoral Psychology (Lapsley, 1986).
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Lapsley, J.N. Spirit and self. Pastoral Psychol 38, 135–146 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01041952
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01041952