Review article
https://doi.org/10.34075/cs.56.3.3
Gestalt pedagogy - self-care as a common ground between theological and psychological education
Stanko Gerjolj
orcid.org/0000-0002-8798-334X
; Faculty of Theology, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Abstract
Numerous mental and other health problems are associated with unhealthy relationships. This is true for children and young people, but also for adults in more or less all periods of life. In this context, holistic education and pedagogical counselling seek to work on the establishment of a healthy living space, which from the very beginning is also the vision of theology. In theology, in a broader sense, practically all scientific disciplines are rooted, which means that theology represents a kind of alma mater of science as such. At the same time, we observe that history knows a number of rather varied dynamics of the relationship between theology and other sciences, especially sciences that are directly related to man. Thus, it was just in the dynamics of the relationship between theology and psychology that Christian Gestalt pedagogy was born a few decades ago, and it is systematically built on biblical anthropology and Christian tradition, and in its applications it simultaneously respects and uses numerous approaches of different psychological directions. It places man at the centre of its research and action, just as theology puts it at the centre of its interest on the one hand, and humanistic psychology in particular on the other. In both cases, it is about a man who longs for salvation and seeks visions that will fulfil and give meaning to his life. We see the power of complementarity in the fact that theology and gestalt pedagogy do not see the meaning of man's life and action in closing in on himself, but in opening to the other man and God. And although Gestalt pedagogy primarily activates human resources in overcoming life's challenges, and therefore uses numerous therapeutic elements, which in any case puts it in the service of complete educational processes, it is well aware of the fact that only theology can open the way to the ultimate meaning of life.
Keywords
gestalt pedagogy; theology; psychology; man; education
Hrčak ID:
265755
URI
Publication date:
30.11.2021.
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