Prest i det sekulære. Pastoralteologi i møtet mellom Manfred Josuttis og Charles Taylor

Abstract

Pastors work in contexts that are increasingly plural and secular. In the forefront of this development are chaplains serving at public institutions. Professional and cultural contexts contributes to form the expectations, tasks, and role of the pastor in significant ways in the field of practice. Pastoral theology needs to identify and address these developments, to ensure that the hermeneutical and conceptual tools available are sufficient. In this chapter, I present two different theoretical contributions that hopefully can supply concepts for a pastoral theology of the secular. Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor explores the characteristics of secular culture in his opus magnum A Secular Age (2007), while German pastoral theologian Manfred Josuttis develops an original understanding of the pastor as guide into the sacred zones of life in his Die Einführung in das Leben (1996). By putting these contributions into dialogue, this chapter explores the understanding of the role of the pastor in a secular culture. Despite their many differences, Taylor and Josuttis share a phenomenological approach as common ground. They articulate their understandings of the secular, the sacred, and the role of the pastor, within a philosophical language that reaches beyond the limitations of dogmatics and organized church life. Together, they help us to explore the role of the pastor in the contested «middles» of secular culture: between the immanent and the transcendent, between everyday life and spirituality, and between the secular and the sacred.