Assignment #3 (40%)

The texts for this assignment are The Art of Theological Reflection by Patricia O’Connell Killen and John DeBeer (2006); Spiritual Care in Practice by George Fitchett and Steve Nolan (2015); and Nine Clinical Case Studies:  The Soul of Pastoral Care and Counseling by Raymond Lawrence (2015), which critiques the Fitchett/Nolan text.  This paper should be in APA format although citations should only be needed for Parts I and IV, and Parts II and III should be first-person narratives.  Your final paper should be between 20 and 30 pages.

Part I:  Narrative Pastoral Care and Theological Reflection.  Briefly define the concept of narrative pastoral care (discussed in Forward and Introduction to the Fitchett/Nolan text).  Then, in more detail define and discuss the concept, process and purpose of theological reflection (discussed in Introduction and first three chapters of Killen/DeBeer text), and reflect on its use in chaplaincy. 

Part II:  Theological Reflection on a Story from your own Life.  Write the story of a past situation in your life that was important to your life journey, and reflect in writing on this story using the theological reflection technique of beginning with a life situation (Killen/DeBeer, pp. 88-89).  Where the authors discuss reflecting within the Christian tradition, you should use whatever religious or spiritual tradition is most meaningful to you.  

Part III:  Theological Reflection on a Story from the Life of Another.  Ask a friend to tell you a story from their life that they are willing to allow you to share (you will change all names). Tell them that you do not want them to include any “why” explanations as part of the story.  Do not ask questions about their story; accept it as it is.  After they tell you their story, ask them to reflect silently on their story by identifying any feelings, themes, and images that arise for them.  At the same time, make some notes (not to be shared with the story-teller) of your own reflections on their story.  After the story-teller has had time to reflect, ask them to tell you about their reflection, what feelings, themes, and images arose for them.  As soon as possible after your conversation ends, write down their story and reflection (as close to verbatim as possible), as well as your own reflection on their story.  Then, compare the two sets of reflections.  Did your feelings on hearing their story match the story-teller’s feelings?  Did you identify the same theme or similar images?  Note any false assumptions you may have made, and any areas in which you may not have fully experienced their story as they experienced it.  Explore the ways in which you, as a chaplain, might have further explored their story to ensure that you better understood their intent and helped deepen their exploration of their own story.    

Part IV:  Critique of Case Studies.  Read the nine case studies (verbatims are included as part of the case studies) set forth in the Fitchett/Nolan text.  After reading each of the case studies, read the editor’s introductory notes and the critical responses to each study contained within the Fitchett/Nolan text after each set of three studies.  Then also read the critiques of these case studies as discussed in the Lawrence text.  Select two case studies that can be compared and contrasted to each other, summarize these studies and the related introduction and critical reviews, write your own critique of these studies, and compare and contrast them to each other.  Please note that the terminology used in the critiques of these studies is sometimes dated.  You are encouraged to include a critique of any such terminology.