Developing Models of Feminist Pastoral Counseling

Abstract

Proposes that feminist pastoral counseling brings into focus the patriarchal context which conditions much of life, including a great deal of traditional psychotherapeutic theory. Claims that empowerment and liberation ought to be the goals of pastoral counseling; and that the model of pastoral counseling proposed by Merle Jordan fits well a feminist perspective, one which treats seriously the unconscious dimensions of patriarchy—a patriarchy which has led to the violation of the sacred.