The Art of Spiritual Midwifery: diaLogos and Dialectic in the Classical Tradition - Softcover

Faller, Stephen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0718894154 ISBN 13: 9780718894153

Publisher: Lutterworth Press, 2015

Synopsis

What comes after reflective listening? What comes after the ministry of presence? Spiritual midwifery is a powerful framework for offering pastoral care in today’s fast-paced environment. Midwifery offers ways of thinking about those who are served, the work itself, and what it means to be a clinical caregiver within the tradition of the care of souls. Spiritual midwifery has philosophical and spiritual roots that stem from the earliest seeds of Western thought, even back to Jesus and Socrates. Readers will find an inductive approach toward a conceptual model that offers insight for richer assessments and outcome-oriented goals of care. Part One sets out the metaphors of the midwife and the dialogue. Part Two unpacks the methodology behind the mechanics. Part Three looks at creative applications of midwifery, and is followed by a Symposium patterned after Plato’s own Symposium. A rigorous theory remains at the centre of the work, but the tone is poetically balanced enough to invite the transformation of the spiritual caregiver. From the philosophy of Heraclitus to the theology of Kierkegaard and the spiritual direction of Guenther, The Art of Spiritual Midwifery brings forth a comprehensive conception of pastoral care and its delivery.

Table of Contents

"Attunement
Part I: Poetics, Aesthetics, and Ethics
1 The Midwife
2 The Baby
3 Medicine and Dialogue
Part II: Physique and Physics
4 The How and the What
5 The Pangs of Socratic Irony
6 Seduction, Surrender, and Negation
7 Inductive Logic and Being Induced
Part III: Immanence and Emanations
8 Lighting and Dark Sayings
9 The Center
10 Precepts, Forceps, and Applications
Afterward and Afterword: The Symposium
Bibliography
"

About this title

About the Author:

Stephen Faller is a Board Certified Chaplain and a Clinical Pastoral Education Supervisor as a Diplomat of the College of Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy in Hopewell, NJ. He is the author of Beyond the Matrix (2004) and Reality TV (2009).

Review:

'Stephen Faller's new book ... introduces us to the practice of spiritual midwifery in a way that restores it to its proper place, not as an historical spiritual activity that has 'had its day', but as an important and fascinating spiritual practice that has much relevance for how we seek to birth contemporary Christian spirituality ... [I]n opening up this fascinating aspect of the care of souls Faller provides deep and captivating insights that have real potential for contemporary pastoral care.' John Swinton, Chair in Divinity and Religious Studies, University of Aberdeen

About this edition

• Publisher: Lutterworth Press
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0718894154
• ISBN 13: 9780718894153
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 162