ABSTRACT The Meaning of Being: The Challenges of Existential Psychology for Biblical Counseling Frederick Nobuya Rodeheaver In fulfillment for the degree Doctor of Philosophy The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary 2017 Chair: Dr. Jeremy Pierre The thesis of this dissertation is that any anthropology that guides pastoral counseling must account for the totality of the human experience, including an individual’s subjective experience of his or her life. Existential psychology, while captive to its own faulty assumptions, has made this kind of anthropological subjectivity a primary focus and thus becomes a helpful dialog partner to the biblical counseling movement in its continued trajectory of theoretical and methodological refinement. This dissertation concludes that while the insights of existential psychology are helpful to biblical counseling, due to its naturalistic assumptions their own therapeutic foci are more comprehensively answered from a theological framework, specifically in the doctrines of the imago Dei, and Christology. The study concludes with practical applications of existential psychology’s insights in the counseling relationship after they have been recast into a Christological context. Chapter 2 examines existential psychology in detail with particular emphasis on its key distinctive; a focus on existence instead of essence. The chapter concludes with a discussion explaining the failure of existential psychology to be the corrective to human understanding that its proponents hoped it to be. Chapter 3 investigates the three unique foci that existential psychology stresses to capture or understand personal subjectivity; the pursuit of authenticity, the problem of anxiety and the question of authority & autonomy. Chapter 4 recasts the very issues of chapter 3 in a Christological context based upon the imago Dei and its corollary doctrine the imago Christi. This recasting provides a surer foundation to the very issues that existential psychology emphasizes and provides the theological link to the therapeutic advantage that is found in existential psychology’s insight and techniques. Chapter 5 provides the practical application of the insights and discoveries of chapters 2 through 4 to the counseling relationship between the biblical counselor and counselee. Chapter 6 summarizes the main arguments of the dissertation and provides recommendations for future research.

<p> The ideal role of the church pastor has not been fully addressed withing church communities, and recent changes in society have led to different understandings of the role of the pastor, hence leading to different expectations. This research aimed to understand burnout, intent to leave the ministry, and turnover in contemporary society, by exploring the role of the pastor from both congregants&rsquo; and pastors&rsquo; perspectives. Maslow&rsquo;s hierarchy of needs theory, role theory, social exchange theory, and leader-member exchange theory were used to guide this research. Qualitative research using a constructivist grounded theory approach was carried out in Kenya involving congregants and pastors in Pentecostal churches. During data analysis, concepts emerging from the data were related to each other as the researcher explored participants&rsquo; responses that were categorized, leading to the emerged themes such as reservation, distrust, volatility, boundlessness, and frustrations. Combined, these categories indicated the pastors&rsquo; and congregants&rsquo; perspectives on the role of a pastor, which led to the emergence of expectations-driven conformation theory. The results indicate that the expectations in contemporary Pentecostal churches require a selfless pastor who can meet the congregants&rsquo; perception of the primary role of the pastor, which is not necessarily what the pastors understand as their role. The grounded theory establishes that pastors conform to expectations with the aim of satisfying the congregants, which is impossible due to conflicting expectations. Pastoral recruitment and training are critical, and this study confirms that it is imperative for pastors to practice within the scope of their trained roles. The issues of burnout, intent to leave, and turnover can be addressed if roles can be explicitly defined by understanding the organizational context, characteristics of members, nature of needs, and level of interdependence in an organization.</p><p>

<p> This study explores issues of internal moral conflict, moral injury, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PDST), from the lens of a developed theological anthropology which finds its foundation in Paul Tillich, Wolfhart Pannenberg, and Karl Rahner. This dissertation tests the theory that operational and combat stress experienced by military service members strains the <i>imago Dei </i> by numbing the human ability for connection and transcendence and, thus, necessitates a "rehumanizing" journey of healing through reconnection with God and others.</p><p> In order to better care for military service members, a new framework for sin is created which addresses issues of generalized estrangement and personal sin from the context of combat operations. This includes examining military training, killing, and issues of justice to clearly present the current psychological and spiritual challenges within the realm of morality, as experienced by service members. </p><p> From this foundation, a theology of growth is constructed based on a synthesis of theological anthropologys from various traditions which better resonate with service member's experiences, and then draws connections with current psychological work in posttraumatic growth. These connections are then used to evaluate support intervention techniques for effectiveness in the process of rehumanizing, which heals and grows a person from moral injury and allows them to once again experience the transcendent connection unique to being created in the image of God. The journey of rehumanization is part of the quest for sanctification, deification, and New Being. This is fostered in non judgmental accepting relationships that find their foundation in God's love for humanity and are experienced as sacred glimmers of the infinite. </p><p>

<p> The purpose of writing <i>An Evaluation of the Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Course at Community Alliance Church, Butler, Pennsylvania</i> was to measure the efficacy of the course to improve emotional maturity on participants.</p><p>

The inspiration to undertake a scientific canonical study on the pastoral care of refugees came from the plight of thousands of Tamils from Sri Lanka who took refuge in the State of Tamil Nadu in India from 1983. A large number of them were Catholics and it was apparent from their way of life that the spirit of Catholicism was deeply entrenched in them. Because of their deep Catholic faith and their unique situation, the Catholic Church has a grave obligation to offer them special pastoral care. The purpose of this dissertation, therefore, is to address this pastoral situation, and examine critically some theoretical, pastoral and structural issues that might enable pastors of the Church to minister to Tamil refugees in accord with their emotional, psychological, spiritual, social and economic needs. Up to now there has not been any major study specifically on the pastoral care of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees in Tamil Nadu, India. The principal method we use in this study is analytical in nature. We will review certain historical-sociological factors relating to the current Sri Lankan Tamil refugee phenomenon. But the central question of our inquiry concerns the pastoral care of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees in Tamil Nadu. The historical facts and various sources, such as papal constitutions, and Roman instructions, decrees and laws, the documents of the Second Vatican Council, and both Codes of Canon Law, are the focus of our analysis. This dissertation contains four chapters which reflect four inter-related issues. The first chapter considers the historical and sociological background of the Sri Lankan Tamil refugee problem. The second chapter deals with the Catholic Church's teaching on the pastoral care of displaced persons, with special reference to refugees. The third chapter examines the canonical aspects of pastoral care of refugees in light of the canons of CIC 1983 and the norms of the Pontifical Council's recent Instruction, Erga migrantes caritas Christi: The Love of Christ towards Migrants. Wherever applicable, we also try to refer to those canons of the Eastern Code (CCEO) which have relevance to the care of refugees. The fourth chapter looks at the current pastoral care received by the Sri Lankan Tamil refugees in the State of Tamil Nadu and offers concrete recommendations to the Church in Tamil Nadu for a more effective pastoral care of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees. The Church in Tamil Nadu has faced and continues to face many practical problems in attending to this enormous refugee problem. The Church has been generous in its service to Tamil refugees. However, the Church can improve its ministry further by establishing special canonical structures suitable for the effective pastoral care of displaced people irrespective of their origin. In light of the recent developments that have taken place in Sri Lanka, it is our hope that all pastors and the Christian faithful of Tamil Nadu will continue to offer appropriate pastoral care to those Sri Lankan Tamil refugees who are still living in camps in the State. Such an attitude on the part of all concerned, we believe, is absolutely necessary for the success of any pastoral programme designed to promote and foster the all-round well-being of all refugees.

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<p> Servant leadership is maturing in its theoretical development. Although initially introduced to the literature over four decades ago by Greenleaf (1970), the relationship of the effect of servant leadership and commitment has not been quantitatively explored until recently. Scholars, such as Sokoll (2013) and Drury (2004), have performed studies in the USA, but no quantitative empirical study has been published from Latin America. A call for the expeditious and quantitative investigation of servant leadership theory applicability in non-Western cultures seems to be emanating from within the academy and across organizations around the world (Northouse, 2015). This study, utilizing validated psychometric instruments, examined the essence of servant leadership and found it to have a significant (<i>p</i> &lt; .001) effect on member commitment, especially on affective organizational commitment. This effect was most accentuated in the Latin American culture. The current study also found leader&ndash;member exchange to have a strong mediation significant (<i>p</i> &lt; .001) effect on normative commitment and a modest significant (<i>p</i> &lt; .001) effect on affective organizational commitment. The leader&ndash;member exchange effect was found to be more accentuated in the Latin American culture. The mediation role of members&rsquo; level of identification with the leader was also a significant (<i>p</i> &lt; .001) effect, but there were no significant contrasts across the two cultures. The study was conducted in churches and online among a robust samples of 431 responses in the USA and 328 in Latin America comprised of multiple Evangelical Christian denominations. Respondents to the study&rsquo;s survey were highly diverse in regards to age, gender, and involvement. This study offers empirical evidence for organizational decision makers to consider servant leadership as an emerging leadership approach that has a superior effect on cultivating member commitment, even in cultures where it was thought not to be a viable leadership style.</p>

Thesis (D. Min.)--Trinity International University, 2002. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 224-237).