Title Helping the Good Shepherd : pastoral counselors in a psychotherapeutic culture, 1925-1975 / Susan E. Myers-Shirk

Published Baltimore, Md. : Johns Hopkins University Press, ©2009

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Description 1 online resource (xi, 301 pages) Series Medicine, science, and religion in historical context Medicine, science, and religion in historical context. Contents Anton Boisen and the scientific study of religion -- The methodology of clinical pastoral education -- The minds of moralists -- From adjustment to autonomy -- Democracy and the psychologically autonomous individual -- An ethic of relationships -- Gendered moral discourse -- The language of rights and the challenge to the domestic ideal -- Resurrection of the shepherd -- Christian counseling and the conservative moral sensibility Summary This history of Protestant pastoral counseling in America examines the role of pastoral counselors in the construction and articulation of a liberal moral sensibility. Analyzing the relationship between religion and science in the twentieth century, Susan E. Myers-Shirk locates this sensibility in the counselors' intellectual engagement with the psychological sciences. Informed by the principles of psychology and psychoanalysis, pastoral counselors sought a middle ground between science and Christianity in advising anxious parishioners who sought their help for personal problems such as troubled children, violent spouses, and alcohol and drug abuse. Myers-Shirk finds that gender relations account in part for the great divide between the liberal and conservative moral sensibilities in pastoral counseling. She demonstrates that, as some pastoral counselors began to advocate women's equality, conservative Christian counselors emerged, denouncing more liberal pastoral counselors and secular psychologists for disregarding biblical teachings. From there, the two sides diverged dramatically. Helping the Good Shepherd will appeal to scholars of American religious history, the history of psychology, gender studies, and American history. For those practicing and teaching pastoral counseling, it offers historical insights into the field Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index Notes Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002. http://purl.oclc.org/DLF/benchrepro0212 MiAaHDL English digitized 2010 HathiTrust Digital Library committed to preserve pda MiAaHDL Print version record Subject Pastoral counseling -- United States -- History -- 20th century Liberalism -- Religious aspects -- Protestant churches -- History -- 20th century RELIGION -- Christian Ministry -- Counseling & Recovery. Liberalism -- Religious aspects -- Protestant churches Pastoral counseling Geistliche Begleitung SUBJECT United States -- Church history -- 20th century. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85139929 Subject United States USA Genre/Form Church history History Form Electronic book ISBN 9780801895173 0801895170 9781421427751 1421427753

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