Shame : a pastoral study

Abstract

Shame may be considered one of the most painful emotions that an individual must endure. Recent research within the scientific discipline of theology has identified the fact that there has been little theological study on shame from a basis-theoretical perspective. This has resulted in a deficiency of theological-practical interventions to assist pastoral counsellors and believers in addressing shame from a Biblical-integrative perspective. Although many of the scientific disciplines within the social sciences, i.e. psychology, sociology, cultural anthropology, et al, acknowledge the effect of shame on humankind, they cannot seem to agree on a definition. This appears to have resulted, from a meta-theoretical perspective, in an inability to provide significant and lasting solutions to addressing shame. The Old Testament and the New Testament seem to adequately address the origins, strategies and solution to shame. In the Old Testament, Genesis 3 is the starting point for a blueprint and framework for understanding and evaluating the origins of shame. The Book of Jeremiah, as prophetic literature, identifies and defines the strategies of shame that may only be interpreted through the grid and in the context of a repentant attitude. The New Testament book of Ephesians seems to identify strategies for covering shame, and provides a permanent solution - a permanent spiritual position of "putting off' and "putting on" for a repentant individual based on the completed work of Jesus Christ evidenced through a renewed mind. The "real-life" effect of shame may clearly be demonstrated through empirical, qualitative interviews, that are evaluated, and with the data gleaned from basis-, meta- and empirical-theoretical perspectives, a practical theoretical perspective is suggested as a theological-practical intervention in an attempt to address this "master emotion", shame.