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This volume offers a detailed analysis of how the current phase of capitalism is eating away at social, interpersonal, and psychological health. Drawing upon an interdisciplinary body of research, Bruce Rogers-Vaughn describes an emerging form of human distress-what he calls 'third order suffering'-that is rapidly becoming normative. Moreover, this new paradigm of affliction is increasingly entangled with already-existing genres of misery, such as sexism, racism, and class struggle, mutating their appearances and mystifying their intersections. Along the way, Rogers-Vaughn presents stimulating reflections on how widespread views regarding secularization and postmodernity may divert attention from contemporary capitalism as the material origin of these developments. Finally, he explores his own clinical practice, which yields clues for addressing the double unconsciousness of third order suffering and outlining a vision for caring for souls in these troubling times.
List of contents
1. Introduction: Preface to a Post-Capitalist Pastoral Theology.- 2. Neoliberalism, Inequality, and the Erosion of Social Well-being.- 3. Going Viral: The Neoliberal Infiltration of the Living Human Web.- 4. Neoliberalism as a Paradigm for Human Affliction: Third Order Suffering as the New Normal.- 5. Muting and Mutating Suffering: Sexism, Racism and Class Struggle.- 6. Beyond Self-Management: Re-Membering Soul.- 7. Concluding Theological Postscripts.
About the author
Bruce Rogers-Vaughn is Associate Professor of the Practice of Pastoral Theology and Counseling at Vanderbilt Divinity School, USA. He brings 30 years of experience in clinical pastoral psychotherapy to his teaching and research. He is also President and Co-founder of the Pastoral Center for Healing, USA, where he continues his clinical practice.
Summary
This volume offers a detailed analysis of how the current phase of capitalism is eating away at social, interpersonal, and psychological health. Drawing upon an interdisciplinary body of research, Bruce Rogers-Vaughn describes an emerging form of human distress—what he calls ‘third order suffering’—that is rapidly becoming normative.
Additional text
“In Caring for Souls in a Neoliberal Age, Bruce Rogers-Vaughn (2016) describes the impact of late capitalism on the political, economic, and cultural domains of our lives. … This is, all in all, a remarkable book, and one that is dearly needed. While pastoral theologians have long asserted that there are links between personal, social, and political aspects of life, Rogers-Vaughn’s well-researched and carefully argued volume offers an explanation of how these realms overlap and interact.” (Mary Clark Moschella, Pastoral Psychology, Vol. 66, 2017)
Report
"In Caring for Souls in a Neoliberal Age, Bruce Rogers-Vaughn (2016) describes the impact of late capitalism on the political, economic, and cultural domains of our lives. ... This is, all in all, a remarkable book, and one that is dearly needed. While pastoral theologians have long asserted that there are links between personal, social, and political aspects of life, Rogers-Vaughn's well-researched and carefully argued volume offers an explanation of how these realms overlap and interact." (Mary Clark Moschella, Pastoral Psychology, Vol. 66, 2017)
