Proefschrift William Blaine-Wallace 150609

339 Pages·2017·1.17 MB·English

Tilburg University
A pastoral psychology of lament
Blaine-Wallace, W.
Publication date:
2009
Document Version
Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record
Link to publication in Tilburg University Research Portal
Citation for published version (APA):
Blaine-Wallace, W. (2009). A pastoral psychology of lament. [s.n.].
General rights
Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners
and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights.
• Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research.
• You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain
• You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal
Take down policy
If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately
and investigate your claim.
Download date: 21. feb.. 2023

A Pastoral Psychology of Lament
A PASTORAL PSYCHOLOGY OF LAMENT
Pastoral Method-Priestly Act-Prophetic Witness

Proefschrift

ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor
aan de Universiteit van Tilburg,
op gezag van de rector magnificus,
prof.dr. Ph. Eijlander,
in het openbaar te verdedigen ten overstaan van een
door het college voor promoties aangewezen commissie
in de aula van de Universiteit op
maandag 15 juni 2009 om 14.15 uur

door

William Blaine-Wallace
geboren op 22 mei 1951 te Salisbury, North Carolina, USA

2
A Pastoral Psychology of Lament
Promotores
Prof. dr. Harlene Anderson
Prof. dr. John B. Rijsman

Promotiecommissie
Prof. dr. Sharon Thornton
Prof. dr. John McDargh
Prof. dr. James M. Day
Prof. dr. Elka Todorova

3
A Pastoral Psychology of Lament
ABOUT THE COVER
The cover art is a visual presentation of a quote by Tennessee Williams, which is
elaborated upon in the Preface: “The violets in the mountains are breaking the rocks.”
The quote captures the collective capacity of the fragile ones, the sorrowful and suffering,
to make a way through the impermeable and emerge radiant. My spouse, Victoria Blaine-
Wallace, brought the quote to my attention about six years ago. Victoria, a graphic artist,
designed the cover.
4
A Pastoral Psychology of Lament
ABSTRACT
My eight years of ministry among the dying and bereaved in two settings rife with
sorrow and suffering—The Grady Hospice Program at Grady Memorial Hospital in
Atlanta, Georgia and The Hospice at Mission Hill, an acute inpatient hospice in Boston,
Massachusetts for persons dying of AIDS—left me with an indelible awareness of and
curiosity about the ironic joy and creative energy for justice-making that emanated from
these communities. This dissertation is an attempt to further substantiate, better
understand, and test the validity of my awareness and the legitimacy of my curiosity.
After developing the dissertation topic around my awareness, curiosity and
passion, I arranged interviews with people and communities who seemed to exude the joy
and energy I had experienced at Grady and Mission Hill. I interviewed people engaged in
ministries and not-for-profit agencies in various cities in the United States: Boston,
Massachusetts; Columbia, South Carolina; Lewiston, Maine; Portland, Maine; San
Francisco, California; and Washington, D.C. I interviewed the survivors of abuse and
genocide.
In Part One, I explore the theological grounding, the psychological traits, and the
spirited courageousness of the fragile, which empowers them to make a way through the
impermeable and emerge radiant. The investigation leads to the construction of a pastoral
psychology of lament that is less a way of caring for the sorrowful and suffering and
more a manner of being in relation in and for a broken world. In Part Two, I detail the
design of lamentational relation and formulate a nascent lamentational ecclesiology as
that which may contribute to the renewal of the presently sluggish spirit of mainline
religion in America.
5
A Pastoral Psychology of Lament
SAMENVATTING
Mijn acht jaar priesterschap voor stervenden en mensen die treuren om verlies in twee
plaatsen die overlopen van smart en lijden – Het Grady Tehuis Progamma aan het Grady
Memorial Hospitaal in Atlanta, Georgia en Het Tehuis in Mission Hill, een tehuis voor
dringend opgenomen patienten in Boston – heeft op mij een onuitwisbaar besef
achtergelaten van en ook nieuwsgierigheid naar de ironie van de vreugde en de creatieve
energie in het recht-doen dat naar voor kwam in deze gemeenschappen. Deze dissertatie
is een poging om de werkelijkheidswaarde van mijn bewustzijn en de legitimiteit van
mijn nieuwgierigheid verder te onderbouwen, beter te begrijpen, en te testen.
Na eerst het onderwerp van deze dissertatie te hebben ontwikkeld in termen van
mijn besef, nieuwsgierigheid en passie, heb ik vervolgens een reeks interviews opgezet
met mensen en gemeenschappen die blijk leken te geven van de vreugde en energie die ik
heb meegemaakt in Grady en in Mission Hill. Ik interviewde mensen die werkzaam
waren in priesterschappen en in diensten zonder winstoogmerk in verschillende steden in
de Verenigde Staten: Boston, Masschussets; Columbia, South Carolina; Lewiston, Maine;
Portland, Maine; San Francisco, California; en Washington, D.C. Ik interviewde
overlevenden van mishandeling en rassenmoord.
In Deel Een onderzoek ik de theologisch onderbouwing, de psychologische
trekken, en de begeesterde moed van het breekbare, hetgeen hen in staat stelt om een weg
te banen door het ondoordringbare en stralend tevoorschijn te komen. Dit onderzoek leidt
tot de opbouw van een pastorale psychologie van het treuren die minder een manier is om
zorg te dragen voor smart en lijden en meer een manier van in relatie treden met en voor
een gebroken wereld. In Deel Twee geef ik een meer gedetailleerd ontwerp van de
6
A Pastoral Psychology of Lament
treurende relatie en formuleer de opkomst van een treurnis gebonden kerkkunde als iets
wat zou kunnen bijdragen aan de vernieuwing van de huidige verluierde gesteltenis in de
overheersende religie in Amerika.
7
A Pastoral Psychology of Lament
CONTENTS

About the Cover...................................................................................................................4
Abstract................................................................................................................................5
Samenvatting........................................................................................................................6
Contents...............................................................................................................................8
Preface……………………………………………………………………………………12
Introduction……………………………………………………………………………....16
Part One: Foundations of a Pastoral Psychology of Lament........……………………….36
Chapter 1: The Theological Foundation of a Pastoral Psychology of Lament........……..37
A Theology Grounded in Personal Narrative……………………………………40
Rawson Circle and Broad Avenue……………………………………………….42
The Story of Linda.....................................................................................50
Tattered Church Building on a Red Clay Road………………………………….53
Deconstructing White Privilege………………………………………….54
Roots of a Relational Ecclesiology of Lament........……………………..63
Public Grief and Reconciliation………………………………………….67
The Suffering God……………………………………………………….73
God as Suffering Other…………………………………………………..74
Church as Lamentational Community.......................................................75
Chapter 2: The Relational Foundation of a Pastoral Psychology of Lament.......……….78
The Meantime as Our Sacred Location…………………………………………..79
Muffled and Muted Sounds from the Meantime....................................................81
Grace as Relation………………………………………………………………...83
8
A Pastoral Psychology of Lament
Godly Loving…………………………………………………………………….84
Nine Characteristics of Godly Loving…………………………………………...86
Testimonial Relation……………………………………………………..86
Conversational Partnership………………………………………………95
Silence…………………………………………………………………..102
Listening………………………………………………………………..108
Alterity………………………………………………………………….111
Polyphony………………………………………………………………114
Marking Absence……………………………………………………….116
Reiteration………………………………………………………………118
Hospitality………………………………………………………………119
The Spirit of Curiosity………………………………………………………….122
Chapter 3: God………………………………………………………………………….125
Andrea…………………………………………………………………………..125
Rose……………………………………………………………………………..128
Theology of the Hospice at Mission Hill……………………………………….131
The God of the Hospice at Mission Hill………………………………………..135
Witnessing God: Andrea, Debbie and Me……………………………………...137
Chapter 4: Wailing……………………………………………………………………...141
The Wailing of the Well-Intentioned Middle-Class............................................150
Chapter 5: Lament........…………………………………………………………………155
Lament Requires Community…........…………………………………………..155
Lamentation Choir of the Civil Rights Movement……………………..159
9