Where is God when dementia sneaks into our house? Practical theology and the partners of dementia patients

How can hope, love and faith stay alive when dementia enters a home? In this article I shall look especially at the spouse or partner who shares an abode with a person with dementia. Most of the authors in this field, also John Swinton who is perhaps the best known author whose books are written from a (practical) theological perspective, focus on care in institutions, that means care by professionals. A partner living with a dementia patient has two main roles: as partner and caregiver. Night and day a partner is witness to the ongoing deterioration of her or his beloved partner, without being a professional. This article is founded not only on literature about dementia patients, but also on the experiences of several partners, as well as my own experiences as a partner. The question we all ask is: ‘From where does our strength come?’ I argue that what is said in the literature on the subject of (the pastoral care for) dementia patients does not help the partners, because it lays a heavy burden on them, who are already suffering from feelings of grief and guilt. I do not agree with John Swinton’s idea that God created dementia. Looking for different ways of thinking about God and faith to survive with hope and love, I turn to the exegesis of the creation stories by Ellen van Wolde. These give the opportunity to take the evil of the situation of the deterioration of the personality of a patient with dementia seriously, and at the same time grant the possibility to turn the grief and guilt feelings into strength to fight evil, together with a God whose empathy and love stays with a partner in her or his loneliness and grief

The importance of life and faith histories in the methodology of Practical Theology

The basic questions of Practical Theology concern the development of a community of faith built on, and building the faithful lives of its members in their particular contexts. This article is an exploration of the biographical method – as a means of qualitative empirical research – to obtain data concerning the possibilities of people in their everyday life of coming to an understanding of their particular situation in the light of their understanding of the Christian tradition. This understanding, individual faith develops in conjunction with the particular theological context in which a person lives her/his life. The author chooses to listen to the life and faith histories of people as a feminist. This means that the role gender plays in life and faith, is taken seriously

A challenge to change developments in feminist theology and feminist Christology

Contextual theologies have made it clear that context, and the particular experiences a context gives, shapes thinking about the Divine and the world into a particular, contextual theology. Feminist theologians stress the point that the life-experience of women in general – and every woman of flesh and blood in particular – works as a context, seeing the world, thinking about the Divine from a particular perspective. The critique of feminist theologies is aimed in the first place to the presumptions and assumptions underlying texts, customs and politics. Feminist theologians ask basic questions about the acquisition of theological knowledge that exposes the cultural conditioning of Christian belief. This review article on the work of Lisa Isherwood and Dorothea McEwan demonstrates how many feminist theologians find in “Process Thought” a way of thinking that avoids the suppositions these presumptions and assumptions make

A place to share : some thoughts about the meaning of territory and boundaries in our thinking about God and humanity

This article proffers some thoughts in reply to the following question : how can we think about God in a theology that takes into account the concept of place in such a way that we are able to live together in a salvific way with others, sharing a place as equals? Concepts such as "territory" and "territoriality" are helpful, because they can be linked with "identity" and the need to feel safe. Boundaries and boundary markers such as walls play an important role in conflicts. The possibility of a "liminal space" at a boundary where eye-to-eye relationships may be possible helps to make "the other", the stranger, a human being with her / his own needs and vulnerability. Using the Israeli / Palestinian conflict as an example, images of God and their impact on the possibility of sharing the land are explored. Hagar, herself a stranger, experiences God's lifesaving attention and names God "God of seeing"

Apakah penggembalaan itu?

Jakarta293 p.; 17 cm

Apakah penggembalaan itu? : Petunjuk praktis pelayanan pastoral

Jakartaxiii, 255 p.; 21 cm