Babel—Legion—Pentecost

Abstract

Describes the practice of pastoral counseling as a language game through the use of three biblical symbols: Babel, Legion, and Pentecost. The first two images describe the human problem; the latter, the possibility of salvation. The salvation image, Pentecost, suggests that communicating the positive dimensions of human wholeness is always a kind of madness which must be communicated in “odd” or indirect ways.