LUTHERAN PASTORAL CARE

William E. Hulme

in Rodney J. Hunter, ed. Dictionary of Pastoral Care and Counseling (Abingdon 1990): 670-672.


Lutheran pastoral care began with Luther. Because of his own anguished spiritual journey, pastoral care became a significant part of Luther's ministry, both as a Reformer of the church, and as a parish priest. His Letters of Spiritual Counsel, for example, shows the wide range both of his pastoral concerns as well as of the persons who received his counsel.

1. Pastoral Emphasis in the Lutheran Tradition. Luther's emphasis on pastoral care has continued in the Lutheran Church. The importance of the German word Seelsorge—taken over untranslated into English—to the Lutheran ministry, illustrates this emphasis In his textbook The Lutheran Pastor, G. H. Gerberding notes that seelsorge means "the cure and care of souls," which is the pastor’s Purpose—to be a seelsorger.

Pastoral care or seelsorge is shaped in the Lutheran Church by three factors. (1) The role of the pastor. In the Lutheran Church the pastor is not only a priest before the altar or a preacher in the pulpit but a strong influence in the homes of parishioners, an authority figure and friend in and part of the family structure. (2) A focus on theology. The Lutheran Church's major characteristic is its theological emphasis, especially concerning the Word and Sacraments as means through which God works and which he gave to his church for the ministry of reconciliation. (3) An approach to life in the world based on the doctrine of the two kingdoms. Although not specifically a confessional teaching of the Lutheran Church but rather a teaching of Martin Luther, this doctrine has nonetheless strongly influenced the church's life. The kingdom on the right hand is the kingdom of the Spirit in which God rules by grace. The kingdom on the left hand is this fallen world in which God rules ambiguously by law. We are called by God in the kingdom of the right hand to live out our calling in the kingdom of the left hand. God calls us not only to the office of the ministry but to all lawful occupations as well. Although the kingdoms are distinguished, they are not separated, and God is ruler of both.

2. Pastoral Care and Pastoral Theology. Lutheran pastoral care is in mutual dialogue with pastoral theology. The centrality of forgiveness in this theology is the basis for the dynamics of reconciliation in pastoral care. Repentance as a change of mind is a way of receiving this forgiveness; together they constitute the agency of change in human behavior. Repentance as sorrow with hope is differentiated from remorse, which is sorrow without hope. Remorse is the result of bondage to the law while repentance is the result of freedom in the gospel.

The process of the law at work within the individual provides preparation for forgiveness, but the Lutheran emphasis is on the gospel. It assumes that the process of the law is already at work and does not necessarily need to be initiated by the pastor. The freedom of the gospel, therefore, is freedom from the judgment of the law. The law in this sense is a "tyrant" (Luther) enslaving us to unresolved guilt or, in more contemporary terms, to a low self-image. This tyranny is overcome by Christ in his crucifixion and resurrection.

The centrality of forgiveness and the "leap of faith" that claims it, is developed as a pastoral theological dimension by the Lutheran theologian and philosopher Søren Kierkegaard in his covertly autobiographical book, The Sickness unto Death (1954), a classic in Lutheran pastoral theology and care. "Christianity," he writes ". . . is in this case (forgiveness) as paradoxical as possible; it works directly against itself when it establishes so securely as a position (the law that accuses) that it seems a perfect impossibility to do away with it again—and then it is precisely Christianity which, by the atonement, would do away with it so completely that it is as though drowned in the sea (grace)."

The law is thus transcended by love, a process that brings a new way of perceiving. Liberated from the narrow blinders of the knowledge of good and evil, which is a legacy of the Fall, one receives the liberated vision of unconditional love of God. who through Christ accepts us as we are regardless of inward or outward behavior. Now one can "see" in descriptive rather than judgmental terms and thus is open to appreciate what heretofore was not in one's line of vision. This is the potential of the new nature born out of forgiveness—the new creation of personhood in Christ Jesus, which makes possible the new community. For Luther it was a newness of life communicated and sealed by the sacrament of baptism.

In dialogue with this pastoral theological base, Lutheran pastoral care has the ambience of Good News in which forgiveness (hope) precedes repentance (sorrow), making possible the change that remorse would inhibit. This ambience is embodied in the approach and attitude of the pastor. He or she may also verbalize the Good News (God language) in a dialogical manner appropriate to the concerns of the other.

Distinct pastoral resources in pastoral care in addition to this dialogical use of God language are Scripture, prayer, meditation, and the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. The latter, pastorally speaking. is a multisensory participatory reassurance of God's accepting presence.

Despite its heavy theological base, Lutheran pastoral care provides more than an intellectual understanding of how God's love is relevant to the needs of the moment. It is also a personal encounter in which one is inspired by this ambience of Good News to feel better about oneself, about life, and about God. Through the medium of a personal relationship, Christ is revealed through his body, the church, and one's perception is changed. This change in perception is the basis for a subsequent change in behavior.

3. Corporate Agencies for Pastoral Care. Besides being a ministry within congregations, Lutheran pastoral care is also a ministry through agencies and institutions, such as Lutheran Social Service and Lutheran Hospitals. Lutheran Social Service consists of multiservice agencies sponsored by local congregations throughout the U.S. and Canada. The name of William Passavant stands out as a nineteenth-century pioneer in these ministries in his founding of eleven hospitals and other "institutions of mercy."

The wholistic approach of these ministries is shown in three recent developments. (1) Lutheran General Hospital, Park Ridge, Illinois. This hospital was founded on the principle of human ecology in which patients and their families and the interdisciplinary staff, which includes the chaplain, consult together for the total health—physical, mental, spiritual—of these patients and their families. (2) Wholistic health centers. Founded by Granger Westberg, these centers or clinics are sponsored by and housed in churches and employ a team approach consisting of physician, nurse, pastor, and other health care professionals. Their work is focused in joint interviewing of patients and consultation regarding their treatment. (3) Clinically-oriented pastoral care and counseling departments in most Lutheran seminaries. Utilizing the ministries of Lutheran Social Service and the chaplaincies of Lutheran Hospitals and similar institutions, theological students from Lutheran seminaries are educated not only in the classroom but also in the healing institutions of society, where they learn by supervised doing. (4) The Lutheran Council. Both Lutheran Social Service and Lutheran Hospitals were from the beginning natural settings for Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE). The CPE movement was warmly endorsed by Lutherans. The Lutheran Council was organized to work along with the two original accrediting and training agencies of CPE—the Institute of Pastoral Care and the Council for Clinical Training. Edward Mahnke of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, Fritz Norstad of the American Lutheran Church, and Granger Westberg of the Lutheran Church in America were pioneers in the Lutheran CPE movement.

The Lutheran Council along with the other groups sponsoring CPE participated in the founding of the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE). The Inter-Lutheran Coordinating Committee for Specialized Pastoral Care and Clinical Education now maintains files of Lutheran clergy aspiring to be chaplains and chaplain supervisors and oversees an interview process for denominational endorsement to supplement the certification process of the ACPE.

Bibliography. G. H. Gerberding, The Lutheran Pastor (1902). S. Kierkegaard, The Sickness unto Death (1954). G. Kraus, "Luther the Seelsorger," Concordia Theological Quarterly, 98:2-3 (1984), 153-63. M. Luther, Concerning the Ministry, J. Pelikan, ed. (vol. 40 of Luther's Works, 1953); Letters of Spiritual Counsel (1955). J. T. McNeill, A History of the Cure of Souls (1951). A. Nebe, Luther as Spiritual Advisor (1894). E. Plass, ed., What Luther Says: An Anthology. 3 vols. (1959). E. E. Thornton, Professional Education for Ministry (1970). G. Tinder, "Luther's Theology of Christian Suffering and Its Implications for Pastoral Care," Dialog, 25:2 (1986), 108-13.

W. E. HULME