Original Research - Special Collection: Yolanda Dreyer Festschrift
Inhabiting compassion: A pastoral theological paradigm
HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies | Vol 73, No 4 | a4644 |
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v73i4.4644
| © 2017 Phil C. Zylla
| This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 09 May 2017 | Published: 31 August 2017
Submitted: 09 May 2017 | Published: 31 August 2017
About the author(s)
Phil C. Zylla, McMaster Divinity College, Hamilton, Canada and Department Practical Theology, Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria, South AfricaAbstract
Inspired by the vision of care in Vincent van Gogh’s depiction of the parable of the Good Samaritan, this article offers a paradigm for inhabiting compassion. Compassion is understood in this article as a moral emotion that is also a pathocentric virtue. This definition creates a dynamic view of compassion as a desire to alleviate the suffering of others, the capacity to act on behalf of others and a commitment to sustain engagement with the suffering other. To weave this vision of compassion as a habitus rather than a theoretical construct, the article develops three phases of compassion: seeing, companioning and sighing. This framework deepens and augments a pastoral theological paradigm of compassion with the aim of inculcating an inhabited compassion in caregivers and the communities in which they participate.
Keywords
No related keywords in the metadata.
Metrics
Total abstract views: 3974Total article views: 3758
Crossref Citations
1. Introducing the Study of Life and Death Education to Support the Importance of Positive Psychology: An Integrated Model of Philosophical Beliefs, Religious Faith, and Spirituality
Huy P. Phan, Bing H. Ngu, Si Chi Chen, Lijuing Wu, Wei-Wen Lin, Chao-Sheng Hsu
Frontiers in Psychology vol: 11 year: 2020
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.580186