Content area
Full Text
Pastoral Psychol (2010) 59:527529
DOI 10.1007/s11089-010-0285-8
Donald F. Schwab Therapist as Priest: The Spiritual Dimensions of a Therapeutic Relationship
The Victoria Press, 2007, 141 pages
Charles D. Mayer
Published online: 12 May 2010# Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2010
In this first book by a senior practitioner seeking to integrate a long career in parish ministry, substance abuse treatment and psychotherapy, a dense and compelling argument is made for the fundamentally priestly nature of the role of the psychotherapist. While the book would benefit from re-editing, and can be frustrating in this regard, Dr. Donald F. Schwabs Therapist As Priest distills a rare breadth of learning across the disciplines of philosophy, theology and psychology to make his case. I was left with a refreshing sense that the split often experienced by those who name themselves as pastoral psychotherapists, namely between being representatives of a doctrinal and liturgical tradition and practitioners of a secular healing tradition, is not only unnecessary but ultimately not real. All psychotherapists, Dr. Schwab argues, are engaged in priestly work. Those trained both theologically and psychologically are particularly well equipped to grasp this truth, but Dr. Schwab is clear that what happens in the room is not dependent on having this conscious understanding. The work of the therapist is implicitly priestly.
Dr. Schwab states his thesis as follows: a therapeutic relationship, fully and rightly understood, and whether consciously referenced or not, rests fundamentally on spiritual foundations (p. xxiii). In the first chapter, with the thoroughness and care characteristic of his work, Dr. Schwab grounds his argument in a very valuable overview of the sociological literature on the professions. He notes the medieval grouping of the professions into theology, medicine and law, proposing the addition of education. These four professions have in common a center on persons, their field of expertise and a relationship between counselor and client (p. 2), and a primary orientation to the communal good over against self-interest (p. 4). They...