Editors’ Comment

Open AccessEditors' Comment: Pastoral Care as Diaconia – Diaconia as Pastoral CareMikkel Gabriel Christoffersen, Marianne Rodriguez Nygaard, Anne AustadMikkel Gabriel ChristoffersenAuthors email:[email protected] University of Copenhagen Denmark , Marianne Rodriguez NygaardAuthors email:[email protected] VID Specialized University, Norway Norway , Anne AustadAuthors email:[email protected] VID Specialized University, Norway Norway Published Online:Jan 2024https://doi.org/10.13109/diac.2023.14.1.3SectionsPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail AboutPastoral care and diaconia are distinct fields of academic study, each with its own research bodies, conferences, journals, and literature. So why are we introducing pastoral care in a journal dedicated to diaconia?Some may consider this question superfluous. Pastoral care practices are intrinsically connected to caritative diaconia, so there is no need to ask, right? Pastoral care is often understood as "supportive and crisis care offered by ordained and lay leaders within religious/Christian communities" (Doehring, 2015, 190). In that sense, in which pastoral care and diaconia are almost synonymous. But, also in a narrower sense, pastoral care denotes (not all sorts of care but) conversations between a caregiver and one or more careseekers, it can be placed under the umbrella of diaconia. In the Protestant Church of Norway, home to two of the guest editors, the official plan for diaconia succinctly states that "pastoral care is central to the Church's diaconia" (Church of Norway, 2020). The plan mentions the need for existential conversations and the importance of pastoral care in the aftermath of crises, accidents, and disasters. Pastoral care is also one of the core subjects in the education of deacons in Norway. Furthermore, empirical research indicates that congregational pastoral care conversations are interwoven with diaconal practices and serve as expressions of diaconia.Others, however, find this question pertinent because their pastoral care and diaconal tradition has little connection to the other. This lack of connection might be the case in traditions that understand pastoral care within frameworks other than diaconia, e. g., as preaching for the individual or as a religiously framed therapeutic conversation. The question may also become relevant if we frame diaconia mainly on system levels of society, such as political structures and empowerment, in contrast to pastoral care, which could be seen as relating to intrapsychic or dyadic processes.Nonetheless, many scholars currently agree that the practice of pastoral care is somehow connected to the practice of diaconia; indeed, the two practices have many overlapping fields. However, there are different suggestions as to what extent, and in what way, they overlap and how they should be interpreted from common theoretical perspectives. Sorting out the relationship between pastoral care and diaconia is thus complicated, largely because the two practices are situated in interdisciplinary fields with several theoretical strands. There are also contextual differences. We have included one conceptual article (Nissen) in this special issue to explore the conceptual relationship between diaconia and pastoral care, which is scarcely discussed in the literature. Nissen describes some of the contextual differences, stating that pastoral care holds a strong position in many English-speaking universities and seminars, where diaconia is mostly absent. In contrast, diaconia plays a significant role in academic studies in Germany and the Nordic countries, where pastoral care focuses more on the conversational aspects. Nissen argues that pastoral care and diaconia share several common concerns, including a theology of care, the significance of the body, time as a resource, and the importance of attention. Further, pastoral care and diaconia are linked by a mutuality of giving and receiving.In addition to Nissen's conceptual article, this issue includes three empirical studies framed in a nexus of pastoral care and diaconia. In different ways, they broaden the perspective of pastoral care from that of an individual therapy-like endeavor or as a preachment for the careseeker.In the second article, Austad, Danbolt, Grung, and Stifoss-Hanssen study priests' and deacons' experiences of congregational pastoral care in Norway. Based on empirical data, the authors depict pastoral care conversations as overlapping with other practices in the church and the local community, including practical diaconal work. Furthermore, they establish that pastoral care conversations occur mainly outside the pastoral office and during encounters with nonfrequent churchgoers.The third article delves into pastoral care among older people. Saarelainen, Reimi, Ojalammi, Larsson, Haugan, and Dezutter investigate chaplains of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland who encounter older adults experiencing existential loneliness and meaninglessness. Their analysis highlights that care does not aim to resolve existential concerns, because, at their deepest level, they cannot be resolved. Rather, the chaplains listen to and share existential pain. The authors also find that existential care has a practical side in which mundane and tangible issues in everyday life can have an existential impact – if they relate to what an individual associates with significant aspects of their personal life.In the fourth and last article, Nygaard, Kleiven, and Austad explore a practice usually not connected to pastoral care or diaconia: experiences of healing hands. Although the informants in this study relate their experiences to the Christian faith, in Norway this practice often takes place in private homes and settings. The authors ask whether congregational communities and diaconal organizations could include healing hands. If so, it would have to include theological discussions, ethical considerations for transparency, feedback systems for those receiving healing hands, and creating learning communities for healing experiences. We hope readers will find this issue interesting and useful – both in research and practice.Mikkel Gabriel ChristoffersenMarianne Rodriguez NygaardAnne AustadUniversity of CopenhagenVID Specialized University, NorwayVID Specialized University, Norway[email protected][email protected][email protected] References Church of Norway (2020), Plan for diakoni (Plan for Diaconia), Oslo: Church of Norway. Google ScholarDoehring, C. (2015), The Practice of Pastoral Care: A Postmodern Approach (rev. and expanded ed.), Louisville: John Knox. Google Scholar Previous article Next article FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Download book coverVolume 14Issue 1January 2023 ISSN: 1869-3261 eISSN: 2196-9027 History Published online:January 2024 Information© 2024 Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Robert-Bosch-Breite 10, D-37079 Göttingen, ein Imprint der Brill-GruppeThe journal shall appear twice a year. It is an open access publication licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License, accessible at DOI 10.13109/diac.2022.13.issue-1. For a copy of this license visit http://creativecommons.org/license/by-nc-nd/4.0/.PDF download

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