Clinical Pastoral Supervision and the Theology of Charles Gerkin

Chapter 3. Gerkin's Incarnational Theology

Chapter 3 Gerkin's Incarnational Theology Mike is working as a chaplain in a long­term care facility under supervision. He has been there for over four months and has developed a good rapport with many of the residents of the facility as well as many of the staff. He has studied various theories from both theology and the social sciences and has begun to integrate them into his ministry. One is the structural systems the­ ory of Salvatore Minuchin. Another is the hermeneutical theory of Ricoeur and Gadamer. Mike is having some difficulty in using these theories together in his ministry. He has a tendency to focus on one theory when visiting a resident and ignore the other. One resident in the long­term care facility es­ pecially posed a problem for Mike. Mike realized that the situation with this person could be easily interpreted from multiple standpoints. Each of the in­ terpretations produces different interventions with different possible out­ comes. Mike feels overwhelmed by the variety of interventions and the com­ plexity of the case. He is confused and asks his supervisor: "Which is the right interpretation for this case?" Mike is struggling with the plurality of interpretations. This challenges his assumption that there is one right way of intervening in the case. As a chaplain, he needs to be aware of the various interpretations and to recog­ nize God's invitation incarnated in the midst of many possible interventions. An incarnational theology assumes God is present and invites response. This response could be in many different ways. Incarnational theology has many dimensions. In systematic theology, it includes an investigation of the person of Jesus, which is also known as Christology. He is both the Jesus of history and the Christ of faith. Systematic theology examines the humanity and di­ vinity of Jesus, the place of Jesus in salvation history, revelation, eschatol­ ogy, the church, Word and Sacrament and the life of the Christian. Today, this investigation also includes the place of the Incarnation within various Christian denominations and the relationship of the Incarnation to the other world religions. The Incarnation is also a central concern for practical theol­ ogy. Practical theology is concerned with the practices of the church. It fo­ cuses on how the incarnation takes place in the practices of ministry. Specifi­ cally, this understanding of the incarnation shapes how one does ministry in the name of Christ. The different understandings of how Jesus as the Christ becomes incarnated in reality often follows denominationallines. In Roman Catholic practice, the ministry of the sacraments is an es­ sential part of incarnational theology. Christ is incarnated in the ministry of Word and Sacraments.1 Based on the doctrine of the Incarnation promul­ gated at Chalcedon (451), Roman Catholic pastoral care understands minis­ try as an embodied experience of grace. God becomes present in the tempo­ ral in order to heal, sustain, guide and reconcile humankind.2 The importance 41 of the pastoral relationship in the embodiment of the presence of Christ has become more central to the Roman Catholic Church since Vatican II. In the Roman Catholic tradition, the Sacraments and the connection to the church community are necessary elements of pastoral care and counselling and em­ body Christ. The Eucharist, the Sacrament of Reconciliation and the Sacra­ ment of the Sick are especially important in pastoral care.3 These sacraments embody the presence of Christ and are part of their practices. In Roman Catholic incarnational pastoral care, Christ becomes present in the practices of the Sacraments, in the person of the priest and lay persons called to min­ istry and in the ministry of the Church as a whole.4 Protestant practical theology has some similarities to and differences from Roman Catholic practical theology in the area of incarnational theol­ ogy. Martin Luther believed that the Christian was to be "a little Christ to the neighbour."5 In the practice of ministry, pastoral care must incarnate the presence of Christ in the person of the pastor or lay visitor as they minister to those in need. In this understanding of incarnational theology, the pastor or lay person embodies the love of God manifest in Jesus in the work of pastoral care and counselling. The pastoral relationship becomes the place where Christ is incarnated. In this case, the emphasis is on the pastoral rela­ tionship as incarnating the risen Christ rather than on the sacraments. Carroll Wise, a United Methodist practical theologian, argues that the ministry of...