No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
Existential Care in a Modern Society: Pastoral Care Consultations in Local Communities in Norway
Abstract
Data from a recent survey on pastoral care consultations (PCC) in Norway (N=408) is presented, showing that PCC is a service priests and deacons provide for people in the municipality, independent of faith affiliation. The most common PCC themes regarded mental and social distress, such as grief, conflicts, and loneliness. Furthermore, illness-related themes were prominent, and a specter of religious and moral issues. We discuss the results in the context of ongoing changes and reforms in both church and health care, and point at possible health promoting dimensions of PCC as existential assistance in the space between personal network support and public health care.
... 21-38), and surveys concerning religious beliefs report a significant change in personal beliefs in the direction of secularisation (Taule 2014). On the other hand, there has been an increase in members of other religions and beliefs mainly due to immigration; thus Norwegian society has become more multireligious with increasing pluralism, which is particularly found in the largest cities such as Oslo (Danbolt et al. 2021). Schnell (2015, p. 152) highlights that statistics do not reveal how religious phenomena have changed profoundly in, for instance, Scandinavia. ...
... Their study also suggests that death anxiety is high among older people in care institutions. Danbolt et al. (2021) found that among the 408 priests and deacons in their study, more than one-fourth reported that they "quite or very often talked about (. . . ) fear of death" (Danbolt et al. 2021, p. 28). ...
... Meaning in life does not decrease with age, and Jonsén et al. (2015) found that the older people in their study attached meaning to 'Creating space for living', 'Living in connection with others and nature', 'Seeing oneself as a link between generations' and 'Having trust in God'. Regarding meaninglessness, Danbolt et al. (2021) found that more than one-fourth "quite or very often talked about (. . . ) lack of meaning". A recent Norwegian quantitative study reveals that "people in late adulthood (≥65 years) scored significantly higher on meaningfulness compared to younger adults (age 18-64)" (Sørensen et al. 2021, p. 8). ...
Background: Research about the importance of existential issues and individuals’ responses to them in old age is growing. This study aimed to explore older Norwegians’ thoughts and experiences related to existential issues and whether or not they wanted to talk about existential concerns with others. The theoretical framework includes Yalom’s ultimate concerns and Tornstam’s theory of gerotranscendence. Methods: Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with eleven home-dwelling older persons, five men and six women aged 73–91 years, all residing in a larger Norwegian town. The data were analysed using thematic analysis. Results: Four main themes and two subthemes regarding the participants’ existential reflections emerged concerning loneliness, death, and meaning. Some participants increased their interest in existential issues in old age, and only a few participants desired deeper conversations about existential issues. Conclusions: The participants were mostly satisfied with life, mainly did not feel lonely and were not afraid of death. Existential meaning was experienced on a horizontal level rather than a transcendent level. Although few openly wanted existential conversations, most participants conveyed a positive interview experience, suggesting that if existential conversations were offered, they would be valuable to older people.
Keywords: existential issues; older people; ultimate concerns; existential conversations; gerotranscendence
... The proliferation of communal contextual pastoral care which promotes pastoral care as a communal responsibility of church members (Danbolt, et al., 2021:21), contributes to ministers and faith workers increasingly getting approached by members of their congregation to seek pastoral care (Meyer 2020:2). With the Pentecostal movement having adopted and integrated the use of ICT in ministry (Asamoah-Gyadu, 2018: 13), and the subsequent increase in the use of technology by the church since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic (Masoga, 2020:1), the study on how the NPM optimise the use of ICT in pastoral care is imperative. The choice of Bushbuckridge as a research site is important as Ngomane (2013:26) notes that scholarship on Pentecostalism is limited in this area. ...
... Its use of technology in this regard dates to the use of audio tapes to record their message to reach out to the people. For instance, Asamoah-Gyadu (2018: 13) states that Christians in sub-Saharan Africa first encountered Oral Roberts through his media ministry, which included the use of audiocassette tapes that were used to share his messages. Furthermore, during that non-digital technology and media era, the use of analogue television also played an instrumental role in Pentecostal Christianity, Asamoah-Gyadu (2018: 13) further explains. ...
The study sought to establish the influence of User Experience (UX) in the Neo-Pentecostal Movement’s (NPM) use of information and communication technology (ICT) to render pastoral care. It
employed a qualitative approach to conduct the study in Bushbuckridge in South Africa. Using an interview guide the researcher conducted in-depth interviews with twelve research participants who were purposively sampled. Data analysis was done thematically with effect from the transcription of the first interview, and data interpretation was done using theories from the fields of computer science and information technology. The findings revealed that all participants have participated in pastoral care using ICT as both caregivers and care seekers, interchangeably in their lives. They predominantly use cell phones as an electronic device of choice, and WhatsApp being the dominant platform of communication. Through these technologies, they offer and/or receive virtual counselling, conduct virtual prayer meetings, transmit caring content, and render self-care. Conceptual interpretation of these findings suggests that the choice and continuous use of these technologies is informed by reachability, acceptability, usability and portability. The author argues that these factors make the use of technology in society indispensable and hence recommends that future study should consider testing this assertion using theories from management sciences and/or social
sciences as this study only used concepts from ICT.
... The findings further illustrate that mutual or communal care plays a crucial role in pastoral care within the movement. Research participants depicted this approach in their oral account of how some of them as ordinary members of the local church visit the sick and the needy to pray with them and share scriptures with them (Danbolt et al., 2021). ...
This article presents findings from the study of pastoral care as volunteerism from the perspective of Neo-Pentecostalism. The purpose of the study was to understand the volunteering models used by this Christian tradition based on the study conducted in Bushbuckridge in South Africa. Conducted within the discipline of practical theology using Osmer’s theory of theological reflection, the study followed a qualitative approach within the interpretivist paradigm. It used primary data collected from neo-Pentecostals that were purposively selected from members of neo-Pentecostal churches in Bushbuckridge in South Africa. Augmented by autoethnographic data, the findings were interpreted by concepts from academic literature with a selection of scriptures used to determine the biblical foundation pastoral care. Using a thematic analysis, the study found that neo-Pentecostal caregivers in the research site offer pastoral care voluntarily using three models, namely in-person, remote and hybrid volunteerism. Whereas this study reveals that the research participants offer pastoral care at no cost, this is not a commonly held standard as some caregivers in some established neo-Pentecostal churches charge a consultation fee. Regardless of these complexities and multiplicity of complementary models, pastoral care from the perspective of neo-Pentecostalism stems from the biblical foundations and personal convictions. While these findings are likely to contribute to existing knowledge, the findings may not be generalized to various contexts due to limitations of sample size and geographic context. Therefore, it is recommended that future similar studies be conducted in other geographical contexts and other Christian traditions to enhance these models for use by Christians.
... Chaplains, nurses, therapists, doctors, but also relatives and friends who are confronted with suffering do well to take its existential dimension seriously (Danbolt et al., 2021;DeMarinis, 2013;Schnell, 2021;Stifoss-Hanssen et al., 2019). Depending on background and profession, attitudes and expertise vary significantly in this regard. ...
... This is then a ministry in the space between health care and network support … Losing loved ones can for many people cause mental and social distress,but from a health care perspective bereavement mostly is regarded as a "normal" process most humans are supposed to undergo several times through their life span. Many bereaved people experience that their grief processes not only are temporarily reducing their function level at work, school, in social life etc., grieving also implies religious and existential perspectives" (Danbolt et al., 2021) 3. Scientific method for dealing with grief and crises is popularly understood as the theory of "five-stages model"-denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance (Kübler-Ross, 2009). Yet there are cases wherein the grief is somehow persistently taking place; the five-stages of grieving becomes circular creating a "continuing bonds" with the people in grief (McNeish, 2013). ...
In the moment of grief, people need consolation coming from the very core of human existence: living communication with one’s source of being. This communication ensues stories of life-sustaining one’s self-identity and spiritual vitality. When a story of life enlightens one’s experience of grief, it becomes a curative force for one’s soul-healing process. Yet if the life story becomes ineffective, it needs an “editing” process—or a revision—to get a meaning reconstruction that is more compatible with the grief situation. Using a postcolonial ethnography, we evaluate the pastoral care done by Nias Christian Church for people experiencing grief. We will describe a theoretical framework to argue that pastoral care is fundamentally an editing process of the story of life-sustaining the well-being of the human soul. We, then, will describe the Nias tradition on grief. Finally, we will discuss how the church should develop pastoral care interculturally.
... Here, the challenge is indeed 'global', and the answer is not necessarily as 'uniquely American' as the Grewal and Coolidge quote above about Hartford Seminary might suggest. Considering experiences from the United Kingdom (Gilliat-Ray et al. 2013;Scott-Baumann and Cheruvallil-Contractor 2015), Netherlands (Boender 2013), recent developments in Norway (Grung 2021;Danbolt et al. 2021), and elsewhere, educators are also looking to labour market expectations and student motivations to calibrate their Muslim religious leadership and chaplaincy education programmes. There are many reasons and occasions for this, including the theoretical and practical arguments for education quality. ...
Against the background of increasing political and academic interest in imam and chaplaincy training and education in Europe, this article argues that the value and purpose of such education remains situated in an alignment between educational provider, student-participants, and employer–stakeholder expectations. These expectations are primarily about Muslim students’ learning and development, requirements and standards of employers, and contributions to community and society, and only secondly, the educations aim at meeting political expectations. The article explores aspects of Hartford Seminary’s success with its programme and alignment of education content and environment with student expectations and the labour market demand. This is supported theoretically by the input–environment–outcome assessment model. The structural and contextually embedded criteria for excellence are discussed and problematised, pointing both to the marginalisation of other drivers of education development that are not market aligned and to strategies of embedding religious authority with chaplains in institutions rather than with imams in mosques. In conclusion, the article highlights the self-sustaining logics that drive educational development but also points to corroborating social, economic, and welfare reasons for quality imam and chaplaincy education.
Aim:The purpose of this study was to explore how adolescent patients displaying developmental trauma experience and describe meaning in life. Schnell’s model of meaning in life is applied to explore meaningfulness, crises of meaning and sources of meaning. Method: The study has a qualitative design based on individual interviews with eight adolescents aged 14–18 years in treatment in an outpatient clinic for mental health care for children and adolescents. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed using systematic text condensation. Results: The adolescents related meaning in life to the experience of coherence, intrinsic values, progress and belonging, or the absence of these. Examples of sources of meaning among the informants were positive relations with meaningful others, structure and routines, moments of well-being, achieving goals related to education, work and family, and seeking something else outside oneself such as playing computer games, being engaged in politics, being with animals, having a belief in a god or being outdoors in natural surroundings. Conclusion: Although the topic of meaning in life was unknown to this group, they used sources of meaning intuitively. This group seems to have similar preferences to the general population. More knowledge is needed on how the topic of meaning in life can be useful in therapy for adolescents with development trauma.
As part of NTT JTSR’s series on Key Texts, the present article discusses Erik H. Erikson’s interdisciplinary, psychohistorical study of the young Martin Luther, its reception, and its relevance for today. Erikson showed how Luther’s own identity crisis – emerging from the troubled relationship with his father – converged with a crisis in late medieval society and theology, and how being a talented homo religiosus helped Luther to solve both crises at the same time, presenting a “religiosity for the adult man” in accordance with the Renaissance need for autonomy. It is argued that during his psychosocial study of Luther and the latter’s cultural context, Erikson developed a general, existential theory of religion that is also relevant for an understanding of the search for identity and religion in modern times.
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any references for this publication.