Ervaring van mag in konfessionele bybelse berading

Abstract

I wanted to investigate the way people experienced confessional pastoral therapy by conducting a qualitative research study. The role of the pastor were examined as well as the effect of discourses of power and ethics in pastoral counseling. I interviewed clients who were counseled by pastors of the AFM Church (Apostolic Faith Mission). The research supposes that knowledge and power discourses have a major influence in pastoral counseling which is often not accounted for. I wanted to see how clients experienced the effects of these discourses of power and ethics. I furthermore wanted to see how these power discourses could result in clients feeling subordinate to the pastor and his knowledge and the effect that these feelings might have on them. The purpose of this study was not to generalize the experiences of the participants, but rather to set a contextual background of the experiences of power in confessional pastoral counseling.