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01-04-2018 | Original Paper

Explorations in the Aesthetic Pastoral Theology of Donald E. Capps

Author: Phil C. Zylla

Published in: Journal of Religion and Health | Issue 2/2018

Abstract

This paper will examine the curative effects of art and the reorienting perspective of poetry in the aesthetic pastoral theology of Donald E. Capps by exploring two key volumes, The Poet’s Gift and At Home in the World. The paper identifies some of the key contributions of Capps’s exploration of art and poetry including the recovery of perception, the advancement of reframing perspective, the notion of embodied pastoral conversation and the roots of religious sensibility. The therapeutic effect of the imaginative aesthetic pastoral theology in these two volumes is further developed by integrating three corollary themes in Capps’s particular orientation to pastoral theology, namely hope, freedom and authenticity.

Merriam-Webster n.d. accessed online, 15 March 2017, “subtlety”, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/subtlety.

For detailed studies of Capps’ models, see Sang Uk Lee’s article, “Aesthetic Interdisciplinarity in Donald Capps’ Weltanschauung”, Pastoral Psychology (2009) 58: 491–504; and Carol L. Schnabl Schweitzer’s, “Juxtaposition or ‘The Powers of Two’: A Tribute to Donald Capps in Conversation with Oliver Sacks”, Pastoral Psychology (2016) 65: 835–848.

This sentence is gender specific in that Capps writes this volume with a focus on boys and the development of their religious sensibility in the works of art that they produce later in life.

Capps prefers to use the older term “melancholy” to the newer term “depression”. He states, “I prefer the more traditional term melancholy than the more contemporary term depression. When one discovers ‘the sense of I’ in these texts [James, Otto, Jung, Erikson], one finds, in my judgment, that this is a melancholic I, an I acquainted not only with sadness but also with deep negative emotions of rage, fury, and even hate” (1997b, 3).

See Capps’s article, “Releasing Life’s Potential: A Pastoral Theology of Work” in Pastoral Psychology (2016) 65: 863–883.

Arnheim, R. (1974). Art and visual perception (Revised ed.). London: University of California Press.

Boscaljon, D. (2013). Resisting the place of belonging: uncanny homecomings in religion, narrative and the arts. Surrey: Ashgate Publishing Limited.

Capps, D. (1990). Reframing: a new method in pastoral care. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.

Capps, D. (1993). The poet’s gift: toward the renewal of pastoral care. Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster/John Knox Press.

Capps, D. (1995). Agents of hope: a pastoral psychology. Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock Publishers.

Capps, D. (1996). Erikson’s ‘inner space’: Where art and religion converge. Journal of Religion and Health, 35, 93–115.CrossRefPubMed

Capps, D. (1997a). James’s ‘transfigured nature’: Where art and religion converge. Journal of Religion and Health, 36, 109–125.CrossRef

Capps, D. (1997b). Men, religion, and melancholia. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Capps, D. (1998). Living stories: pastoral counseling in congregational context. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.

Capps, D. (1999). The lessons of art theory for pastoral theology. Pastoral Psychology, 47, 321–346.CrossRef

Capps, D. (2008). Laughter ever after: ministry of good humor. St. Louis, Missouri: Chalice Press.

Capps, D. (2011). The verbal portrait: Erik H. Erikson’s contribution to psychoanalytic discourse. Journal of Religion and Health, 50, 880–898.CrossRefPubMed

Capps, D. (2013). At home in the world: A study in psychoanalysis, religion and art. Eugene, Oregon: Cascade Books.

Capps, D. (2014). Method, models, and scholarly types: reflections on thesis and dissertation writing in pastoral theology. Pastoral Psychology, 63, 551–560.CrossRef

Capps, D. (2015). Response to reviewers of At Home in the World. Pastoral Psychology, 64, 541–543.CrossRef

Capps, D. (2016). Releasing life’s potential: A pastoral theology of work. Pastoral Psychology, 65, 863–883.CrossRef

Patton, J. (1990). From ministry to theology: pastoral action and reflection. Nashville: Abingdon Press.

Stone, H. (1998), Depression and hope: new insights for pastoral counseling. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.

Zylla, P. (2015). A review of Donald Capp’s At Home in the World. Pastoral Psychology, 64, 531–539.CrossRef

Title: Explorations in the Aesthetic Pastoral Theology of Donald E. Capps
Author: Phil C. Zylla
Publication date: 01-04-2018
Publisher: Springer US
Published in: Journal of Religion and Health / Issue 2/2018
Print ISSN: 0022-4197
Electronic ISSN: 1573-6571
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-017-0514-x

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Other articles of this Issue 2/2018

Erratum to: Jesus the Healer: A Sermon in Honor of the Memory of Donald Eric Capps (1939–2015)

Humor as Wisdom for Reframing Life

Giving Counsel: Donald Capps’ Contributions to Pastoral Counseling

Addressing Moderate Interpersonal Hatred Before Addressing Forgiveness in Psychotherapy and Counseling: A Proposed Model

Legislative Enforcement of Nonconsensual Determination of Neurological (Brain) Death in Muslim Patients: A Violation of Religious Rights

On the Couch: A Repressed History of the Analytic Couch from Plato to Freud