The Sacred Stories of Divine Dignity: Narrative Approaches to Healing Ministry (DP8700P)

Content

Taking a narrative approach to understanding human cognition and meaning making, this unit explores the nature of human interpersonal-psychodynamics from the perspective of the Christian theological tradition. The unit thus engages with the practical reflective skills required for supporting human relationships that enhance dignity and human flourishing in church settings. We explore the Christian understanding of Grace and the role it might play in human healing, and focus on the concepts of meaning, identity, purpose and culture and the interplay between each of these in healing.

Learning outcomes

Unit sequence

Prerequisite Unit: DP8600P Life Abundantly in Christ

Pedagogy

In order to address current grave concerns in pastoral practice and supervision in church settings, the learning and teaching strategy utilized in this unit draws extensively upon nearly 500 years of Jesuit educational philosophy and practice found in the Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm (IPP).

The IPP understands learning and teaching as sequenced in exploration of context, experience, reflection, action, and evaluation. This process enables students’ readiness to engage in a learning process that is transformative of the whole person, mind and heart. The learning process that the IPP facilitates draws on the Christian view of the human person in its structure and content, for example, by emphasising the students’ dignity and creative contribution to the experience of learning. The vision of the IPP presupposes that learner and teacher enter into a mutual and reciprocal relationship whereby each searches for the insight of the other and in the service of shared learning.

The unit utilizes this strategy because it specifically offers a model of adult-learning that recognizes, supports, respects, and develops the wealth of experience and knowledge that students bring to this unit. This strategy aims at facilitating students’ appropriation of unit content in relation to their own learning needs and personal growth. As a result, this strategy generates readiness for personal transformation and meaningful professional impact

Indicative Bibliography

1. Alison, James. On Being Liked. London: Dartman, Longman and Todd, 2003. Chapter 1 “Contemplation in a world of violence”.
2. Freeman, Jennifer., Epston, David., & Lobovits, Dean. Playful Approaches to Serious Problems: Narrative Therapy with Children and their Families. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1997.
3. Madsen, W. Collaborative Therapy with Multi-Stressed Families. New York: Guildford, 2007.
4. May MD, Gerald G. Addiction and Grace: Love and Spirituality in the Healing of Addictions. San Francisco: HarperCollins Publishers, 1988.
5. Morgan, Alice. What is narrative therapy? An easy-to-read introduction. Adelaide: Dulwich Centre Publications, 2000.
6. Raskin, F. D., and A. M. Lewansowski. The Construction of Disorder as Human Enterprise. Washington DC: American Psychological Association, 2000.
7. White, M. Maps of Narrative Practice. New York: Norton, 2007.

Assessment