The Minister As Diagnostician: Personal Problems in Pastoral Perspective

Rating:
Summary: Great guide for pastors into the world of the patient
Review: Paul Pruyser, in "The Minister as Diagnostician" gives an insightful view into the challenges, struggles and questions of ultimate meaning that hospital patients face. The purpose of the book is not a biblical exegesis exercise, but rather to help pastors and chaplains draw on the disciplines of spirituality and psychology to gain a deeper understanding of what patients, familiy members and hospital staff go through. Pruyser's book is a pioneering effort in this respect, because next to Anton Boisen's work in the 1940's and 50's, this book is one of the few that adopts an interpretive rather than prescriptive approach toward pastoral care. In a nutshell, Pruyser seems to be saying that if we are to be effective in our pastoral care, we must first have a grasp on what situation the patient and his or her family are in- what are their resources for support? where do they locate ultimate meaning and hope? what are their challenges? What pastoral resources can be mobilized to address these needs?

Pruyser provides an extremely helpful model and template for understanding the spirutal needs of the patients to whom we minister. For those of us who make pastoral care visits, particularly in the hospital, on a regular basis- this book is tremendously helpful food for thought. If you are looking for a book of proof texts on the basis for pastoral care, however- that is not what this book is all about. Remember, Pruyser's approach is descriptive, rather than prescriptive. This book is an excellent pastoral care resource for chaplains, pastors and pastoral care visitors. I have used it in my work as a hospital chaplain and I would highly recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Great guide for pastors into the world of the patient
Review: Paul Pruyser, in "The Minister as Diagnostician" gives an insightful view into the challenges, struggles and questions of ultimate meaning that hospital patients face. The purpose of the book is not a biblical exegesis exercise, but rather to help pastors and chaplains draw on the disciplines of spirituality and psychology to gain a deeper understanding of what patients, familiy members and hospital staff go through. Pruyser's book is a pioneering effort in this respect, because next to Anton Boisen's work in the 1940's and 50's, this book is one of the few that adopts an interpretive rather than prescriptive approach toward pastoral care. In a nutshell, Pruyser seems to be saying that if we are to be effective in our pastoral care, we must first have a grasp on what situation the patient and his or her family are in- what are their resources for support? where do they locate ultimate meaning and hope? what are their challenges? What pastoral resources can be mobilized to address these needs?

Pruyser provides an extremely helpful model and template for understanding the spirutal needs of the patients to whom we minister. For those of us who make pastoral care visits, particularly in the hospital, on a regular basis- this book is tremendously helpful food for thought. If you are looking for a book of proof texts on the basis for pastoral care, however- that is not what this book is all about. Remember, Pruyser's approach is descriptive, rather than prescriptive. This book is an excellent pastoral care resource for chaplains, pastors and pastoral care visitors. I have used it in my work as a hospital chaplain and I would highly recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Short on spirituality with no Biblical foundations.
Review: This book by Pruyser turned out to be a big disappointment. While I could list a number of reasons why I did not care for the book, I will limit my remarks to two areas which I found to be especially disappointing. To state it quite simply: the overall tenor of the book is secular. For example, he repeatedly refers to the pastor as a "professional" who is counseling "clients". While both of these terms may be technically acceptable to some people, I find them both to be offensive. In the true sense of the term, the pastor is not a "professional" (according to Pruyser, the pastor is viewed as one professional among many others such as psychiatrists, doctors, social workers, and others who perform what he sees as similar "services"). In light of the Biblical qualifications and duties of a pastor, it is hardly appropriate to refer to him as a "professional" in this sense. To do so takes a man who is called and gifted by God to perform a sacred duty and secularize him and the ministry he has been given. To be sure, the ox is not to be muzzled when he threshes the floor, but to take the fact that pastors are compensated for their efforts and thus lump them in with those whose callings are of an entirely different order and label them all "professionals" does not resonate well.
Also, over the course of the 134 pages, there is only one Biblical passage which is referenced (Jn. 8:3-11, p. 117)! This was tremendously disturbing. As a book which is targeted to ministers (remember the title of the book), it was quite a let down to read page after page and chapter after chapter only to find no attempt to deal with pastoral counseling from a Biblical standpoint. If Pruyser is not first and foremost interested in what God has to say, then what is the use of writing a book that is expected to be used as a resource for those men who have given their lives to serving God based on the revelation which He has given in His Word, the Bible?
Some of the chapters were not a total loss, though. However, even in the chapters that contained some decent material, (Chapter 4- Why Do People Turn to Pastors?; Chapter 5- Guidelines for Pastoral Diagnosis; Chapter 7- Language in the Pastoral Relationship; Chapter 9- The Agapic Community) the framework from which Pruyser proceeded to write had a very secular tone to it. Maybe that word "secular" has been overused and doesn't seem to fit in a critique of a book which is designed to be read by pastors, but there was little if any spiritual vibrancy on these pages.
An interesting bit of irony is found when one compares the actual content of the book to the authorial biography on the back cover. In that brief paragraph, we are told that one of Dr. Pruyser's "unusual qualifications to write this book" include the fact that he is in possession of "considerable theological insights." In my estimation, nothing could be further from the truth. This book contains virtually no theological insight (explicit or implicit) and never makes any attempt to deal with the issue of pastoral counseling from a Biblical/theological perspective.
Having said all of this, the main point of the importance of a pastoral diagnosis in cases of counseling has not been lost. There are points at which I can agree with Pruyser and appreciate what he is trying to communicate, yet the detached feel of the book was something I was constantly having to fight against.

Rating:
Summary: Short on spirituality with no Biblical foundations.
Review: This book by Pruyser turned out to be a big disappointment. While I could list a number of reasons why I did not care for the book, I will limit my remarks to two areas which I found to be especially disappointing. To state it quite simply: the overall tenor of the book is secular. For example, he repeatedly refers to the pastor as a "professional" who is counseling "clients". While both of these terms may be technically acceptable to some people, I find them both to be offensive. In the true sense of the term, the pastor is not a "professional" (according to Pruyser, the pastor is viewed as one professional among many others such as psychiatrists, doctors, social workers, and others who perform what he sees as similar "services"). In light of the Biblical qualifications and duties of a pastor, it is hardly appropriate to refer to him as a "professional" in this sense. To do so takes a man who is called and gifted by God to perform a sacred duty and secularize him and the ministry he has been given. To be sure, the ox is not to be muzzled when he threshes the floor, but to take the fact that pastors are compensated for their efforts and thus lump them in with those whose callings are of an entirely different order and label them all "professionals" does not resonate well.
Also, over the course of the 134 pages, there is only one Biblical passage which is referenced (Jn. 8:3-11, p. 117)! This was tremendously disturbing. As a book which is targeted to ministers (remember the title of the book), it was quite a let down to read page after page and chapter after chapter only to find no attempt to deal with pastoral counseling from a Biblical standpoint. If Pruyser is not first and foremost interested in what God has to say, then what is the use of writing a book that is expected to be used as a resource for those men who have given their lives to serving God based on the revelation which He has given in His Word, the Bible?
Some of the chapters were not a total loss, though. However, even in the chapters that contained some decent material, (Chapter 4- Why Do People Turn to Pastors?; Chapter 5- Guidelines for Pastoral Diagnosis; Chapter 7- Language in the Pastoral Relationship; Chapter 9- The Agapic Community) the framework from which Pruyser proceeded to write had a very secular tone to it. Maybe that word "secular" has been overused and doesn't seem to fit in a critique of a book which is designed to be read by pastors, but there was little if any spiritual vibrancy on these pages.
An interesting bit of irony is found when one compares the actual content of the book to the authorial biography on the back cover. In that brief paragraph, we are told that one of Dr. Pruyser's "unusual qualifications to write this book" include the fact that he is in possession of "considerable theological insights." In my estimation, nothing could be further from the truth. This book contains virtually no theological insight (explicit or implicit) and never makes any attempt to deal with the issue of pastoral counseling from a Biblical/theological perspective.
Having said all of this, the main point of the importance of a pastoral diagnosis in cases of counseling has not been lost. There are points at which I can agree with Pruyser and appreciate what he is trying to communicate, yet the detached feel of the book was something I was constantly having to fight against.