RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Pastoral theology
munity, and the community upon the individual; whence arises the Christian's duty to exert his influence in keeping with the Gospel, and to discover corruptive influences, from the two motives of asserting his ethical personality and that of brotherly love. Both these motives are the more imperative as the needs of others are greater or our position or calling is the more responsible (cf. Hardeland, in bibliography, chap, x., pp. 208 sqq., also pp. 299 sqq., 326 sqq.).
The pastor, in performing his duty in the special cure of souls, must use all cooperative agencies and make them work harmoniously. Since there is no legal obligation on the layman to seek and accept the cure of souls, the pastor can accomplish his purpose only as he holds the confidence of the members of the congregation; in pro- 5. Coop- portion as they willingly recognize the eration of exemplary quality of his religious and Pastor and moral character, and have no doubt of Congrega- his wisdom in the cure of souls. This tion. means that the pastor must be an example for the congregation (I Pet. v. 3), and must obtain the requisite wisdom by an exact acquaintance with the congregation and a psychological understanding of individualities. He must regard as under the " seal of the confessional " communications imparted to him in order to procure his counsel, comfort, or instruction, his duty in this respect being qualified only by the fact that he recognizes the culpability of silence in case of high treason; in case of contemplated crime; and in case of averting the consequences of perpetrated crime. The personal responsibility and self-training of every Christian are taken for granted; hence if some laymen feel that their participation in the special cure of souls might be an infringement of liberty and attempt at guardianship, it does not necessarily signify disparagement of the Christian life or a defective conception of the Church. The question whether action should wait for request or proceed spontaneously (at the pastor's initiative) is a practical one; it is the duty of him who would care for souls to know all members of the congregation, and many spiritual conditions arise which exclude the possibility of a request for help. The special cure of souls in the Church does not stand on an analogous footing with pedagogy; for the latter is grounded upon the difference between the mature and knowing and the immature and unknowing, and becomes redundant in proportion as the self-training of the pupil grows effective. Although in every congregation there will be a larger or smaller number of members whose relation to the pastor is really that of pupils to teacher, the pastor is not the authoritative master, since the entire spiritual charge rests upon con- 6. Cure of fidence in the pastor, and self-training Souls Analo- no less than personal responsibility gous not to remains the postulated basis of the Pedagogy, cure of souls everywhere. Indeed the but to aim of the spiritual charge is not eccle- Medicine. siastical punctilio or moral independence, but the ideal elevation of the religious and moral life according to Matt. v. 48; Phil, ii. 5; Col. i. 28; Eph. iv. 13; Rom. viii. 29. The
proper analogy for the cure of souls is the practise of medicine. However, the attitude of the spiritual adviser toward the members of the congregation is not that of the whole to the sick, but of the one who knows the means of salvation to the one in need of them, and the pastor himself is one of the needy. The charismal gifts of the spiritual adviser, like the functions of the physician, are diagnostic and therapeutic. In diagnosis, the three fundamental psychological faculties come into play; the knowing property of the intellect in its teachableness; the esthetic or perceptive property of feeling in the active religious life on its emotional side; the moral force of the will, in its unalterable state of readiness to render every possible service in the spiritual cure. The question as to the categories of treatment (therapeutics) in the spiritual cure, is also to be answered by going back to the three fundamental psychological faculties. The emotional life needs the spiritual cure in suffering; the will, on occasion of sinning; the intellect, in the erring man; and accordingly the categories of the spiritual cure become the paracletic or consolatory, the paideutic or corrective, and the didactic or instructive. But since there is no isolated fundamental faculty, but all three fundamental faculties always interact, so likewise the suffering of men is always more or less complicated with sin and error; the sin of man, with suffering and error; the error of man, with suffering and sin. From the complication of suffering with sin arises the inclination toward languishing in resignation or carelessness, and toward extravagant complaint and accusation: through complication with error, the inclination to nurse delusions. From the complication of sin with suffering arises the redemptive need; with error, the redemptive. capacity (Luke xxiii. 34; Acts hi. 17; I Cor. ii. 8). The complication of error with suffering begets willingness to receive instruction; with sin, the guilt of error (Luke xii. 47, 48) by enhancing the fault of intellect into error of conscience, or a morally wrong attitude in respect to recognition of the truth.
Suffering, sinning, erring men are not to be regarded as exceptional in the congregation. There is no human being who does not suffer; the spiritual adviser can take to himself II Cor. i. 7. Means to 3-4 (see Suffering). There is no be Adapted human being who does not sin (I John to Individ- i. 6-10) ; the spiritual adviser is at best ual Needs, a pardoned sinner. There is no human being who does not err so long as he strives; the spiritual adviser is not infallible, and must wait for perfected knowledge (I Cor. xiii. 8- 12). However, the universality of suffering, sinning, erring, does not abrogate the individuality of every particular instance of suffering, sinning, erring. Hence all mechanical procedure on the spiritual adviser's part is of evil counsel; only specific procedure is admissible. For this proper application of the means of the spiritual cure to the individual contingency, Nicholas Hemming, in 1566, in his work Pastor sive pastoris optimus vivendi agendique modus, coined the masterly expression Orthotomia. The expression connects itself with II Tim. ii. 15: " rightly dividing (R. V- handling aright or [marg.] holding a straight course in) the word of truth."
Pastoral Theology