ABSTRACT

This is the first comprehensive treatment of the relationship between the doctrine of the Trinity and pastoral care and counselling. Neil Pembroke contends that an in-depth reflection on the relational dynamics in the Godhead has the capacity to radically renew pastoral practice. Pembroke applies the notion of relational space to care in a parish setting. The life of the triune God is defined by both closeness and open space. The divine persons indwell each other in love, but they also provide space for the expression of particularity. This principle of closeness-with-space is applied in three different pastoral contexts, namely, community life, spiritual friendship, and pastoral conversations. The specialized ministry of pastoral counselling is the focus in the second half of the book. Informing the various explorations is the principle of participation through love: the divine persons participate in each other's existence through loving self-communication. Pembroke shows how this trinitarian virtue is at the centre of three key counselling dynamics: the counselling alliance, empathy, and mirroring.

chapter |4 pages

Introduction

part |13 pages

Setting the Scene

part I|37 pages

Trinity and the General Ministry of Care

chapter Chapter 2|9 pages

Pastoral Care as Polyphony

chapter Chapter 3|12 pages

Hospitality in Pastoral Ministry

chapter Chapter 4|13 pages

Community and Spiritual Friendship

part II|37 pages

Trinity and Pastoral Counselling

chapter Chapter 5|10 pages

Building the Counselling Alliance

chapter Chapter 6|12 pages

Empathy, Communion and Identity

chapter Chapter 7|13 pages

Mirroring as an Act of Love

part |13 pages

Concluding with Theodicy

chapter Chapter 8|11 pages

The Trinity and Suffering