Abstract
Are healthy people necessarily religious? Are religious people necessarily healthy? Does holism imply that holiness equals health? This paper presents a model for a multidimensional understanding of human progress that does not lose sight of the fundamental unity of personhood.
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References
Pruyser, P.W.:The Minister as Diagnostician: Personal Problems in Pastoral Perspective. Philadelphia, Westminister Press, 1976.
Collins, W.J., “Pastoral-Diagnostic Understanding of a Counseling Case,”Pastoral Psychology, 1985,34, Winter, 101–111.
Dolores Curran's finding, “The Healthy Family has a shared religious core,” is an excellent example of this belief. See Curran, D.,Traits of a Healthy Family. Minneapolis, Winston Press, 1983.
Here is Howard Clinebell's description of pastoral counseling: “A counseling relationship can help overcome that alienation from ourselves, other persons, and God which is the essence of sin. Whether the issues are identified by theological labels or not, they arethere at the heart of counseling—sin and salvation, guilt and forgiveness, judgement and grace, spiritual death and rebirth.” See Clinebell, H.,Basic Types of Pastoral Counseling, Nashville, Abingdon Press, 1982, p. 46. Compare this to Carlfred Broderick's statement about therapeutic values: “The therapeutic world is founded upon existential values. The ultimate goal is held to be individual growth and self actualization (not loyalty), assertiveness (not self sacrifice), differentiation (not commitment) and openness (not privacy). These values are promoted without apology or debate, but they are not the only viable sense of values.” Broderick, C.,The Therapeutic Triangle, A Sourcebook on Marital Therapy. Beverly Hills, Sage Publications, 1983, p. 171.
Clinebell,op cit., pp. 41–48.
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De Chardin, Teilhard,The Phenomenon of Man, Bernard Wall, trans. New York, Harper and Row, 1965, p. 48.
A similar point was made by Stern, E.M., inPsychotherapy and The Religiously Committed Patient. New York, The Haworth Press, 1985, pp. 1–10.
Wilcox, M.M.,Developmental Journey: A Guide to the Development of Logical and Moral Reasoning and Social Perspective. Nashville, Abingdon Press, 1980.
Munsey, B., ed.,Moral Development, Moral Education, and Kohlberg. Birmingham, Religious Education Press, 1980, pp. 272–291.
Ibid.Munsey, B., ed.,Moral Development, Moral Education, and Kohlberg. Birmingham, Religious Education Press, 1980, pp. 214–231.
Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Shabbat, p. 88a.
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Glueck, N. Religion and health: A theological reflection. J Relig Health 27, 109–118 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01532068
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01532068