Fantasy and mourning: heterogeneity, alterity, and discontinuity in the pastoral encounter.

Full Abstract

In exploring why the topic of fantasy has been absent from current pastoral care articles, the author draws from the work of Peter Homans and Eric Santner to inscribe the social dimensions of fantasy in the pastoral encounter, arguing that fantasy closes us off from radical change, difference, strangeness, and loss (discontinuity, heterogeneity, alterity, and mourning) while, paradoxically, opening us up to these excesses of life. Understanding the unconscious interpsychic role of fantasy makes these ever-widening dilemmas more psychologically transparent and even theologically transformational. Without this perspective, what often remains is a disappointing, unreflective, rationalized fiction of a stranger.

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Author information

Author/s: Beers, William (W);

Affiliation: Pastoral Care, St. Clare Hospital and Health Services, 707 14th Street, Baraboo, WI 53913, USA.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: The journal of pastoral care & counseling : JPCC (J Pastoral Care Counsel), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2006-; vol 60 (issue 3) : pp 201-12

Dates: Created 2006/10/24; Completed 2006/11/28;

PMID: 17059110, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Fantasy
Grief
Humans

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